IANS

New Delhi, Aug 25: About 20,000 employees of cash-strapped national carrier Air India Tuesday began a three-day hunger strike across various airports to protest delayed salaries.

However, flight operations had not been impacted, said an Air India spokesperson. "We have a well formulated contingency plan and have deployed additional manpower to ensure smooth operations," he said.

The striking employees, about half of Air India's staff strength, are affiliated to two major unions -- Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) and Aviation Industry Employees Guild (AIEG). The rest are members of other unions.

ACEU general secretary J.B. Kadian said it would again strike work on Aug 31 if the Air India management refuses to take their plea seriously.

"We have been working hard and trying to help the management to overcome the losses in our airline. But the management is delaying and ignoring us. It is also reducing our salaries to half. This is not acceptable to us," added Kadian.

He also stated that the government could decide on their pay cuts, not the airline.

Earlier, in July, the employees had gone on strike for two hours and staged demonstrations over the issue.