One of the employee unions in Air India complained that the entire, and misplaced, focus of the management was on slashing pay in the name of a turnaround plan.

The airline management has proposed a 50 per cent cut in productivity-linked incentive (PLI) to save around Rs 600 crore a year. The airline's wage bill is Rs 3,100 crore a year and PLI is 40 per cent of that. It has accumulated losses of about Rs 5,000 crore.

"We are not responsible for the mounting losses. The focus of the management has been only on slashing (PLI cut of 50 per cent) employees' wages. There are many (other) options they can look at to cut cost," said Y V Raju, general secretary of the All-India Aircraft Engineers Association. "We have no role in the day-to-day functioning or decision-making and framing of management policies in running the airline," he noted.

Employees have been getting their salaries late for the last three months (June, July and August) and "there was simmering discontent about the late-payment," Raju said.