More than 300 flight attendants took sick leave en masse and Indian Express laid off 30 people!
News from Civil Aviation Resources Network on May 10, 2024: According to previous reports, nearly 300 employees of Air India Express went on strike at the last minute before going to work on the 8th local time because they were dissatisfied with the company's policies on scheduling, salary adjustments, etc. They asked for sick leave collectively and turned off their mobile phones. Refusing contact resulted in the cancellation of 85 flights. An apology from the company said passengers could choose between a full refund or a free rescheduling to another date. (Related report: More than 300 flight attendants collectively called in sick!)
In response to this serious collective protest, Air India Express responded on the 9th, claiming that this collective leave behavior was "a premeditated collective absence from work without any legitimate reasons", and immediately dismissed it as "failure to promptly report work and slack." It announced the dismissal of 30 crew members on the grounds of "attitude" and also issued a final notice to other employees, requiring them to resume work before 4 pm on the 9th. The union said other staff would not return to work until the fired colleagues were reinstated.