Hawai Karmachari Sena, one of the workers’ unions at the Mumbai Airport, has threatened to go on strike if its demands for pending salaries are not met. The Union has given a notice to the Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) stating that if the workers are not paid their pending salaries along with interest and risk allowance, within two weeks, they will go on strike.
The members of the Hawai Karmachari Sena comprise aerobridge operators, electrical/lighting maintenance workers and cargo drivers. The Union has said that while the permanent staff have not received salaries for two months, the contractual employees haven’t been paid full salaries for six months. The contract staff have not received their salary slips for eight months.
About 20 different contractors provide workers for the Mumbai Airport for various jobs. Apparently, one of the contractors threatens the employees with termination if they demand clearance of pending salaries.
Since MIAL had assured the unions that the pending salaries would be released by the end of September, the other unions, such as the Airports Aviation Employees’ Union, which has 1,400 permanent employees and an equal number of contractual staff as members, have chosen to wait, in the hope that the dues will be cleared soon.
Indian Airports Employees Union had approached the Bombay High Court with the issue in August. A tiff is reportedly on between the MIAL and the government-owned Airport Authority of India (AA)
