Union Successfully Curtails Scrooge-like Pay Cuts

(NEW YORK) – Air India, Ltd. has agreed to reimburse members of Teamsters Locals 210 and 781 who work at the company for lost wages after the Teamsters filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), saying the company broke the law.

“This is a billion-dollar enterprise that employs hundreds of workers across the globe, but Teamster members are the only Air India workers who didn’t have their wages slashed this year,” said Capt. David Bourne, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division. “Pandemic or no pandemic, there is no reason the company can’t follow the law and negotiate with us over compensation. We are thrilled that we forced Air India to do the right thing by giving back the wages its workers are rightfully owed, right in time for the holidays.”

The 10 percent wage decrease was part of a company-wide response to profit losses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The union is currently re-negotiating its collective bargaining agreement with the company at the National Mediation Board and filed suit against the company when it violated the Railway Labor Act and unilaterally took concessions from employees without the union’s agreement.

The Teamsters immediately filed suit on the grounds that by unilaterally implementing the pay cut, Air India is imposing a drastic change upon the agreement without the union’s consent and without first exhausting the major dispute process, thus violating the status quo obligation imposed upon the defendant by the RLA at Section 2, First and Section 6. The company, accepting that it would likely be ordered to restore pay by the court, agreed to restore wages, including all wages it had unlawfully withheld.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and “like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.

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