Mumbai: An Air India Express staff union has claimed the airline has issued charge sheets against 200 cabin crew members for reporting sick last month when the carrier faced significant disruptions. The Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) has termed the airline's move as unfortunate and unfair labour practice. In a letter to Air India Express chief Aloke Singh on Sunday, the union also warned the Tata Group-run airline's management that such actions could be detrimental to the interests of the company and its passengers. There was no comment from Air India Express.

According to Union sources, the charge-sheet was issued to around 200 cabin crew members on June 5, with a deadline of 72 hours to file a response. Around 200 cabin crew members of Air India Express went on strike on May 7, to protest against the alleged mismanagement in the airline, resulting in cancellation of hundreds of flights. Consequently, the airline management terminated the services of 25 cabin crew members and warned the others to join work or else face the same action.

Three days later, the strike was called off after a conciliation meeting between the representatives of cabin crew members and the airline management at the Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) in Delhi on May 9. "The charge-sheet was issued by the Chief of HR to many of the cabin crew members regarding their sick reports. It is very unfortunate and constitutes unfair labour practice to reopen the case and issue charge-sheets for matters that have already been settled through conciliation. "The termination orders of the 25 cabin crew members were also withdrawn during conciliation based on the settlement agreement," the Union, which is affiliated to the RSS, said in the letter.