Yielding to pressure from its employees, cash-strapped national carrierAir India has decided to give them their salaries for the month of June on July3, instead of July 15 as decided earlier.

"The management has told us that we would get our salaries on July3. They have also assured us that there will be no wage cut," J.B. Kadian,general secretary of the Air Corp Employees' Union (ACEU), said.

The airline employees get their salary on the last day of the month.Earlier Air India had announced that it would delay the June salary by 15 daysand also asked the top executives of the airline to forgo their one month pay.

The employees' union protested this move, saying they would go on anindefinite strike from July 1 if the decision was not revoked.

But they failed to reach a consensus on the airline's proposal to cutcosts. Air India, which incurred a loss of Rs.4,000 crore last fiscal, plans toask for a Rs.10,000-crore (about $2 billion) bailout package from the centralgovernment.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel met Prime Minister Manmohan Singhlast Wednesday and discussed the bailout plan with him. The prime ministersuggested him to adopt various cost-cutting measures to improve the financialcondition of the National Aviation Co India Ltd (NACIL), which owns Air India.