Workers in a former Air India subsidiary, AIESL and now a PSU under the Ministry of Civil Aviation are on a sit-in in front of their MRO facilities in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Nagpur for the last five days against the brazen anti-worker policies of the management. Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL) operates major Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facilities across India, servicing narrow-body aircraft (Airbus A320 family, Boeing 737) and wide-body aircraft (Boeing 777, 747 and 787 Dreamliner) for domestic and international flights. Thousands of passengers depend daily on the technical expertise and labour of these workers for safe flight operations. Reports indicate that more than 1,100 fixed-term employees are directly affected by the discriminatory employment regime in AIESL.

While Clause 7 of the draft model standing orders released by the Government of India on May 8, 2026 clearly states that fixed term workers should receive wages, allowances and benefits not less than permanent workers performing similar work, the workers in AIESL – from engineers to helpers recruited under fixed-term employment — are being paid less than one-third of the salary and benefits of their regular counterparts. Even after working continuously for 8 to 12 years, these workers are denied regular increments, social security benefits, medical facilities and career progression.

The exploitation assumes even more alarming dimensions considering the nature of work performed by these workers. The engineers and technicians maintaining aircraft safety are compelled to work 12 to 14 hours a day while being paid a meagre overtime rate of around Rs 85 per hour. This is in blatant violation of the recently notified labour code provisions under which overtime work beyond the prescribed working hours must be compensated at double the ordinary wage rate.

Instead of addressing the legitimate grievances of the workers, including equal pay for equal work, regularisation of long-serving fixed-term employees, decent working conditions and fair overtime compensation, the management has resorted to intimidation and victimisation. When representatives of the workers met the management to discuss these issues, four union representatives were served termination notices. The ongoing mass sit-in is against this vindictive dismissal and for the settlement of their justified demands.

Reports from various AIESL centres also reveal increasing attempts by the management to impose arbitrary and coercive conditions on employees, including restrictions on mobility of workers through controversial NOC policies. When the representatives met the AIESL management to discuss their grievances, including equal pay for equal work, instead of discussing these, four of their representatives were given termination notices. The management is now reportedly trying to replace experienced fixed-term engineers and technicians with trainees and retired personnel. Such reckless actions directly endanger aviation safety and pose a serious threat to millions of passengers who rely on properly maintained aircraft.

The struggle of the AIESL workers is not merely an industrial dispute inside one PSU. It reflects the growing trend of contractualisation, fixed-term employment, suppression of trade union rights and denial of equal wages across strategic sectors under the present neoliberal policy regime. Highly skilled workers engaged in critical safety operations are being treated as disposable labour while managements seek to maximise profits through precarious employment practices.

The CITU has expressed full solidarity with the countrywide mass sit-in of AIESL workers and demanded:

1.    Immediate reinstatement of all dismissed union representatives and withdrawal of all victimisation measures.

2.    Equal pay and equal benefits for equal work for all fixed-term employees.

3.    Regularisation of long-serving fixed-term workers performing perennial work.

4.    Proper implementation of labour laws and overtime provisions.

5.    Immediate settlement of all pending demands of the AIESL workers through negotiations with the unions.

6.    An end to arbitrary anti-worker policies that compromise both workers’ rights and aviation safety.

The CITU has called upon all its affiliated trade unions and workers across sectors to extend solidarity to the ongoing struggle of AIESL workers.