Talks fail after Kingfisher refused to commit on salary payment

Talks between Kingfisher Airlines management and the employees to resolve the impasse over non-payment of salaries failed to make any headway after the airline refused to offer any commitment to pay salary dues.

“We had an hour-long meeting with the management over the non-payment of salaries, which have not been paid since February. We want immediate payment of two months’ salary. But the management did not offer any commitment as to when they intend to pay us. So, we have decided to continue with our agitation,” Captain Yatin Pandit and representatives of other employees told reporters after the meeting at the airline’s office in the city.

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From the management side, the meeting was attended by the chief executive officer Sanjay Aggarwal, executive vice-president Hitesh Patel and KFA chief financial officer HG Raghunath, while the employees’ side had pilots, cabin crew members, engineers and ground handling staff among others.

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Aggarawal and others from the airline left the venue without interacting with the media. When contacted, the airline spokesperson also refused to comment on the meeting. Without elaborating as to who they will express their protest, Pandit said, “the employees will continue to protest at the Mumbai airport.” He also said the pilots will continue to fly.

“We are in a Catch 22 position. Neither we can leave the airline nor can live without salaries for months. We don’t know whom to approach now, because there are no rules for such a situation (non-payment of salaries for months). “The government considers our problem as one between a private airline and its employees, and the management is taking undue advantage of the crisis,” said a pilot who wished not to be named.

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Around 200 pilots of the crippled airline has been on a strike since yesterday and as the rest of the employees also joined them, the management hurriedly dispatched Aggarwal to defuse the crisis.

PTI