KRASNOYARSK, May 26 (RIA Novosti) - Nine flight attendants of the bankrupt Siberian airline KrasAir pledged to continue their hunger strike in protest against overdue wages, after a colleague was taken to hospital on Tuesday.
The stewardesses, based in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, began the strike on May 14, saying were owed eight months' wages. Six of the women have since been hospitalized.
"There are now nine of us left," Irina Tretyakova said. "The doctors have taken away another woman, the sixth since the hunger strike began."
She said the flight attendants would continue their strike until all wage arrears are paid in full.
KrasAir, part of the crisis-hit AirUnion alliance, ceased operations last October over a liquidity crisis. The company has about 2,500 employees and wage arrears estimated at 340 million rubles ($10 million).
Other KrasAir flight attendants who are not involved in the strike will rally on Wednesday near the building of the regional administration.
The government of the Krasnoyarsk territory will allocate $5.6 million to pay the wage arrears, a spokesman for the regional government, Edkham Akbulatov, said.
A local government source earlier said that 60 million rubles ($2 million) in wage arrears had been paid into the bankrupt company's account.
"Over the past two days various sources have said that the money has arrived. But the banks are very clear on this and are telling us 'there is no money, nothing has been paid into your accounts,'" Tretyakova earlier commented.
