Kingfisher Employees Reject CEO’s Claim, Crisis Continues

There seems to be no end to the crisis in Kingfisher Airlines as the striking employees rejected CEO Sanjay Aggarwal’s claim that “most of the employees” had accepted his offer of a staggered payment salary dues.

In an email sent to individual employees, Aggarwal had claimed that most of the employees had accepted the management’s proposal of the staggered payment schedule and had agreed to resume work Oct.26.

The employees dismissed the claim and said that 90 percent of the employees had rejected the management’s offer.

"When employees from Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai have rejected the management's offer of staggered payment schedule, how can it claim that most of them have given their consent to join work," Subhash Chandra Mishra, who is spearheading the employees’ protest in Delhi, told the Business Today.

"As a matter of fact, about 90 percent of the employees have rejected the offer. We adhere to our demand for payment of four months' salary by October 26," he added, according to the report.

The employees are accusing the management of trying to divide them by issuing the false claims.

Meanwhile, the employees have decided to “gherao” (a form of protest where the protesters will encircle the target till their demands are met) the airline’s promoter Vijay Mallya during the Formula 1 event in Greater Noida where the Indian Grand Prix is scheduled to take place later this week.

The employees, who have not been paid since March, have shot a letter to the airline’s management seeking payment of at least four months’ salary dues by Oct. 26 or else they will hold protests at the F1 venue against Mallya.

“We want four months' salary to be paid by 6pm on Friday. If that does not happen we will chart our course of action on Saturday. There will be peaceful protests at the F1 venue by unpaid Kingfisher employees," Mishra said, according to the Economic Times.

Mallya, who so far has not reacted to the workers’ row except for his twitter statement that he was “not absconding,” has confirmed that he will attend the Formula 1 event. Mallya co-owns Sahara Force India (an F1 team) with Sahara.