IA's young airhostesses go on protest leave over low salary

NEW DELHI: Maharaja's (merged IA-AI's) young airhostesses are on the warpath again. Over 100 junior cabin crew in Delhi and many others across the country are learnt to be on a protest sick leave. The reason: Their total salary of nearly Rs 28,000 is far less than what senior airhostesses get ��� anywhere up to Rs 1 lakh. According to sources, the young airhostesses of the erstwhile Indian Airlines have been on leave for three to four days now.
As a result, Air India-domestic is learnt to have called back senior airhostesses ��� including those who were grounded for being overweight ��� to maintain flight schedules.While the airline admitted there were issues with junior cabin crew members, it did not give the figure of airhostesses on sick leave.
���There are some abstaintations that are normal. There are some issues regarding career progression which we are trying to resolve by holding talks with the junior cabin crew members. The last round of talks went on till late Saturday night,��� an airline spokesperson said. ���We will do everything possible to maintain flight schedules,��� he added.
A young airhostess said that the junior crew members get a flying allowance of Rs 140 per hour while seniors get Rs 700 per hour. ''We have been hired on a very low pay scale and the difference in total salary is very high,��� she said. A couple of years back, the erstwhile IA had decided to have young cabin crew on board to have a mix of experience and youth to compete with other airlines that thrive on glamour.
The grounding of overweight airhostesses became a touchy issue with some affected personnel even moved to court. While the airline admits it needs a young fleet as also young cabin crew members, it is having differences with the latter on pay issue.
���The young airhostesses should not expect to get the salaries that were given by IA or AI in its monopoly days. The salary being paid today to them is favourably comparable to what is paid by private airlines in India. While they take airhostesses off planes after certain age, IA still offers job security,��� said the official.