Cracking down on striking pilots demanding pay hike, state-owned Air India on Wednesday sacked six of them and derecognised their association.
The Delhi High Court too asked the 800 pilots, owing allegiance to the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), to call off their agitation and resume work in the larger public interest.
Addressing a press conference, Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi defended the steps taken by the Air India management against the striking leaders of the ICPA. He said the ICPA's demands could not be accepted at a time when the national flag carrier was reeling under a financial crisis.
Mr. Ravi said a three-member committee, headed by the former Supreme Court judge, Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari, was already examining all issues pertaining to wage parity and the overall structure of the national carrier. The committee has been asked to submit its report within four months.
The management terminated the services of ICPA leaders, including its president Capt. A.S. Bhinder and general secretary Capt. Rishabh Kapur. Two other agitating pilots were suspended. The management declared the strike illegal, derecognised the ICPA and sealed its offices in Delhi and Mumbai.
Hearing an urgent plea of the Air India management against the strike, Justice Gita Mittal of the Delhi High Court barred the pilots from resorting to any kind of demonstration and asked them to resume work in the “larger public interest.”
At least 37 flights were cancelled till late on Wednesday evening including several on the Delhi-Mumbai sector and those to Kathmandu, Bangkok, Raipur, Aurangabad, Srinagar, Hyderabad, Nagpur and Leh. Some of the flights were also delayed by nearly two to three hours.
In the event of flight disruptions, cancellation or combination or delay of more than one hour, Air India would give full refund to the passengers, irrespective of the fare rules. The national carrier also decided that no penalties would be levied on tickets refunded, revalidated, reissued or rebooked on a subsequent flight due to flight disruptions.
Terming the demands as “very unreasonable, unjustified,” the Civil Aviation Minister said the striking pilots were trying to “pose a threat to the institution.” As soon as the news of the strike came, he asked Air India Chairman Arvind Jadhav to deal “firmly'' with it. “A section of the pilots cannot behave in such an irresponsible manner at a time when the government was helping Air India's restructuring and turnaround plan,” he said.
Mr. Ravi said that post-merger demands relating to salary dispute had been discussed by him personally with all trade unions in Mumbai. He appealed to all the employees to cooperate with the management in tiding over the tight financial situation.
“The idea of a third party going into all such demands was suggested and accepted by all. The Justice Dharmadhikari committee is looking into the demands. As soon as it gives its report, the Government and Air India management intend to make the integration process smooth so that all 41,000 employees have better working conditions,” Mr. Ravi said.
On their part, the agitating pilots said they were focussing on “fiscal mismanagement'' that had resulted in the financial losses to the airline and demanded a CBI probe.
Terming the strike “unfortunate and ill-advised,'' the Air India CMD said “now when such aggressive efforts are under way to resolve issues concerning every section of the employees, this abrupt action by the ICPA was certainly uncalled for.''
No-frills carrier SpiceJet, in a statement, said that it had directed its teams across all airports to accept and accommodate Air India passengers on request from the national carrier.
The ICPA gave the letter to the management late on Tuesday night, intimating its decision to go ahead with the strike, after the tripartite conciliation talks before the Chief Labour Commissioner failed. The ICPA, which has a strength of over 800 pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines, held the CMD “solely responsible for the financial mess'' in the airline and “sabotaging'' its future.
Join duty, court tells pilots
New Delhi Staff Reporter writes:
Pulling up the Air India management for sitting over the demand for pay parity by pilots belonging to the erstwhile Indian Airlines with their Air India counterparts, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the agitating pilots to call off their strike and join duty forthwith.
The pilots had gone on an indefinite strike from Tuesday midnight.
Justice Gital Mittal passed the order on a suit by Air India, urging the Court to declare the strike illegal as it was against the commercial interest of the public airline as well as against the larger public interest.
Justice Mittal asked the pilots to withdraw the strike in the larger public interest, but at the same time hauled up the management for not finding a solution to their long-pending grievances.
