MUMBAI: The standoff between Kingfisher Airlines management and employees, agitating over delayed salaries, ended on Tuesday with the protestors accepting the assurance given by the beleaguered carrier's promoter Vijay Mallya and deciding to withdraw their agitation.
Mallya, who had a meeting with the employees including pilots and engineers late last night, had assured them that their dues would be paid in a staggered manner by April 10.
"The employees accepted the assurance Mallya had given in his letter and decided that they would not go ahead with their ultimatum of an agitation if a part of their dues were not paid by 8 PM" on Tuesday, airline sources said.
After a day-long meeting between the employees and the management yesterday, Mallya made a last ditch effort and met the agitators at his residence late last night.
He is understood to have warned them that any agitation could lead to cancellation of Kingfisher's flying permit by aviation regulator DGCA if its services were disrupted any further.
The crisis-ridden carrier was in any case operating a curtailed summer schedule of about 100 daily flights with 16 planes.
Urging the employees not to press their ultimatum, Mallya reiterated his promise of clearing the salary dues of junior staff, including those involved in ground handling and security, by tomorrow and that of the pilots and engineers by April nine and ten. The staffers have not been paid salaries since December.
In an email to employees dated April 1, Mallya, fighting with his back to the wall after reports emerged that he was considering selling his flagship assets such as United Breweries that his father late Vittal Mallya and later he himself had so meticulously acquired piece by piece, was direct about stating his problems.
"We have managed to keep the lights on in our days of darkness with adversity from every conceivable direction," he wrote.
The email gave an undertaking that all junior staff will be paid their dues of four months by Wednesday. Pilots and engineers will be paid between 10 to 11 April, Mallya added.
In reply to his e-mail, in a letter the employees said that such promises have not been adhered to in the past and that they felt "cheated and deceived".
"We are not currently in a mental state to undertake any duties and doing so would jeopardise the safety of our aircraft and more so ever our valuable guests," an email on behalf of employees had said.
The employees in their letter had also alluded that in the past they had received similar emails assuring salaries but none of the assurances were met.
A few Kingfisher flights failed to take off on Monday, as the staff stayed away from operating them.
(Source- http://economictimes.indiatimes.com)
Mallya, who had a meeting with the employees including pilots and engineers late last night, had assured them that their dues would be paid in a staggered manner by April 10.
"The employees accepted the assurance Mallya had given in his letter and decided that they would not go ahead with their ultimatum of an agitation if a part of their dues were not paid by 8 PM" on Tuesday, airline sources said.
After a day-long meeting between the employees and the management yesterday, Mallya made a last ditch effort and met the agitators at his residence late last night.
He is understood to have warned them that any agitation could lead to cancellation of Kingfisher's flying permit by aviation regulator DGCA if its services were disrupted any further.
The crisis-ridden carrier was in any case operating a curtailed summer schedule of about 100 daily flights with 16 planes.
Urging the employees not to press their ultimatum, Mallya reiterated his promise of clearing the salary dues of junior staff, including those involved in ground handling and security, by tomorrow and that of the pilots and engineers by April nine and ten. The staffers have not been paid salaries since December.
In an email to employees dated April 1, Mallya, fighting with his back to the wall after reports emerged that he was considering selling his flagship assets such as United Breweries that his father late Vittal Mallya and later he himself had so meticulously acquired piece by piece, was direct about stating his problems.
"We have managed to keep the lights on in our days of darkness with adversity from every conceivable direction," he wrote.
The email gave an undertaking that all junior staff will be paid their dues of four months by Wednesday. Pilots and engineers will be paid between 10 to 11 April, Mallya added.
In reply to his e-mail, in a letter the employees said that such promises have not been adhered to in the past and that they felt "cheated and deceived".
"We are not currently in a mental state to undertake any duties and doing so would jeopardise the safety of our aircraft and more so ever our valuable guests," an email on behalf of employees had said.
The employees in their letter had also alluded that in the past they had received similar emails assuring salaries but none of the assurances were met.
A few Kingfisher flights failed to take off on Monday, as the staff stayed away from operating them.
(Source- http://economictimes.indiatimes.com)
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