Air India calls strike dud but ready to talk

The deadlock between the agitating executive pilots of Air India ( A- I) and its management continued on Saturday. Some flight schedules were disrupted because of the pilots’ strike, but the airline claimed flight operations were large unaffected.

The senior had pilots gone on indefinite strike on Friday in protest against salary cut and a reduction in productivity linked incentives, approved by the A- I board a few days ago. The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) extended its “moral support” to the striking pilots on Saturday. The ICPA is a body comprising more than 600 junior non- executive pilots the erstwhile Indian Airlines.

Addressing a press conference, ICPA president Captain Shailendra Singh said: “We have extended moral support to the executive pilots and request the A- I management to resolve the issue amicably.” An ICPA office- bearer said the decision to join the strike would be taken in two- three days, but “it is non- cooperation” for now. “We have already written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) about pilots being under mental pressure due to salary cuts,” Singh said.

A senior A- I official said in the event of ICPA pilots joining the strike, domestic flight operations would come to a halt. An A- I spokesperson said the airline’s chairman and managing director ( CMD) Arvind Jadhav had called the agitating executive pilots for talks on Sunday.

But Captain V. K. Bhalla, spokesperson of the agitating pilots, said there was no question of going for negotiations till the time the order regarding the salary cut was withdrawn. Bhalla said none of the pilots was in a fit state of mind to fly and this had a direct bearing on passenger safety.
“We are also being subjected to racism, Expat pilots are getting more salary than their Indian counterparts,” he alleged. The CMD “has issued a Talibani order of cutting our salaries by 50 per cent,” Bhalla said. In fact, with productivity linked incentives also reduced, it will actually be a 70 per cent cut, he added.

On being asked about the inconvenience being caused to flyers because of the strike, he said: “We have been forced to go on strike and the CMD is responsible for it. Call it by whatever name, but it is a strike and the pilots are refusing to fly.” Bhalla said about 400 executive pilots had not reported for work and the ICPA may also join the agitation. The A- I rejected the claim as wrong. The airline’s spokesperson, Jitendra Bhargava, said only 28 pilots had reported sick.

He also said the strike had not affected flight operations. Only 13 of the 200 domestic flights were cancelled. Three of the affected flights were from Delhi to Lucknow, Srinagar and Kabul. The affected passengers were transferred to other A- I flights, he said. From midnight till 5 pm on Saturday, all the 58 international flights operated normally, Bhargava said.The agitating pilots are expected to meet the A- I management in Mumbai on Sunday to discuss their demands. Though the airline claimed the agitation has had no effect on its operations, the management will meet the representatives of the protesting employees in Mumbai on Sunday to address their concerns. CMD Jadhav, is scheduled to meet the agitating executive pilots and discuss the reduction in their productivity- linked incentives, the main reason for the strike.

Source:
Mail Today
Date- 27 September 2009
Edition- New Delhi