NEW DELHI , India ( CNN ) -- About 13,000 employees at state-run Air India walked off the job for two hours Friday after the airline failed to pay their monthly wage . A man walks past the Air India building in Mumbai . Staff staged a strike to protest against unpaid wages . The strike was the last resort for some employees who say management failed to keep a promise to pay them Friday , said J.B. Kadian , the general secretary of the Air Corporation Employees Union . There have been strained talks between management and three unions -- that includes everyone from the cabin crew to sweepers -- after Air India told the bulk of its employees their pay would be delayed by two weeks . The unions said 13,000 employees participated in the strike but Air India did not provide a number . The walkout comes after management did not follow through on its latest verbal agreement to pay the lowest paid employees by July 3 , employees say . Employees normally get paid on the last day of the month . The lowest paid unionized employees make less than $ 100 a week . Employees said they were angered that their pay was delayed at a time when the airline has continued to buy new planes . Air India 's spokesperson J. Bhargava told CNN : `` We will not tolerate any strike . Striking employees will be subject to loss of wages and productive incentives . '' Air India is in deep financial trouble . It lost about a billion dollars last year alone . It says it is in a fight for survival due to lower volumes of passengers , the high cost of employing about 31,000 employees as well as the current world financial downturn . Analyst Kapil Kaul from the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation said Air India 's problems may stem from bad business decisions rather than the global financial downturn . `` We have seen Air India continue to get planes when they have no money to pay salaries , '' Kaul said . `` At the present time the airline does not have a well structure and realistic business case . '' Air India has asked the government to bail it out . It also said it has avoided layoffs unlike other struggling airlines around the world .
Air India employees stage flash strike after monthly paychecks were n't paid . Some airline staff had been told they would be paid by Friday , July 3 . Bosses warned most staff that their paychecks would be two weeks late . Air India tells CNN : `` Striking employees will be subject to loss of wages ''