Air India goes for hiring as employees protest leave without pay policy

Adding insult to injury of employees as they protest what they call “a draconian” leave without pay (LWP) policy going up to five years, Air India is on a recruitment drive to hire new people. Air India Express has put out an advertisement to hire in the finance and medical services department. The general principle is that if a company is laying off people and sending them on long leave without pay, then it does not hire fresh personnel. In the advertisement, Air India Express has invited applications from Indian citizens (wherever domiciled) for the posts on a fixed term contract basis. The positions in the medical services department include Chief Medical Officer and Senior Assistant, Medical. The positions open for hiring in the Finance Department include Deputy Chief of Finance, Manager-Finance and Deputy Manager-Finance. Interested and eligible candidates have been asked to submit their applications within 15 days of this advertisement. This will add fuel to the fire as employees across the board from pilots to service engineers are protesting pay cuts and Leave Without Pay in Air India. The company is also on the block for privatization. Air India has justified the cut in allowances of existing employees by citing the precarious financial position due to Covid 19.<br/>