Over 60 trolley workers at the Chennai airport refused to work briefly on Wednesday morning, protesting the delay in payment of their wages. The workers hadn’t got their payment for nearly two months, said airport sources.
“The workers pick up the trolleys left by the passengers at the arrival hall and leave it at the departure hall of both domestic and international terminals. They are paid around Rs. 300 for eight hours,” said an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official.
“It is not clear why the workers have not been paid as yet; a delay by the contractor in submitting the bills may have led to this problem,” he said.
Soon after they refused to work, AAI officials paid about 30 workers and promised to pay the rest of the workers shortly, he added. Subsequently, they returned to work. Airport sources said the protest did not have any impact on passengers since it lasted for only a short period.
Sometime ago, passengers complained that they found it difficult to locate the trolleys. AAI then hired a contractor whose workers were responsible for retrieval of trolleys in the airport premises.
