The first round of talks, between the pilots of Air India and the Civil Aviation Ministry, aimed at ending their eight-day-old strike remained inconclusive on Wednesday night.
“Discussions are still taking place. There is progress in the talks which were held in a cordial and friendly atmosphere. We will resume the dialogue,'' Civil Aviation Secretary Naseem Zaidi told reporters here.
Mr. Zaidi said that “many points'' were covered during the talks that lasted nearly four hours and only “one or two points are left.'' He added that talks would be held again on Thursday afternoon.
Eight days after their protest paralysed domestic operations of the national carrier, the strikers, owing allegiance to the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), opened dialogue with officials of the Ministry to hammer out a solution and end the stalemate.
A two-member team of the Ministry, headed by Joint Secretary Prashant Shukul, was formed to initiate a dialogue with the pilots, who were said to be opposed to negotiating with Air India Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) Arvind Jadhav.
From the pilots' side, Capt. A.S. Bhinder, Capt. Rishabh Kapur, president and general secretary of the ICPA; Capt. Amitesh Ahuja and Capt. Shakil Naqvi participated. Capt. Bhinder, Capt. Kapur and Capt. Ahuja have been sacked by the Air India management.
The pilots agreed to hold talks in response to “feelers'' sent out on Tuesday night by the Ministry and the management of the ailing state-owned carrier. The agitators had also written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging him to intervene “on an urgent basis'' to help find a solution. “Suspensions and terminations of employees' [contracts] are routinely being used as threat tactics to create a fear psychosis and force us into submission,'' the letter said.
It pointed out that Air India had in the recent past lost lucrative routes to private operators while expensive aircraft had been acquired on lease with no plans for their deployment.
Pilots blame CMD
The letter accused the CMD of “demoralising and alienating employees'' by making “humiliating remarks in the media, deferring salaries and cutting benefits for family members.''
It said the “entire administrative structure of the airline has been systematically crushed'' because Mr. Jadhav had quarrelled with “almost all directors, executive directors, and general managers, resulting in a complete vacuum in decision-making.''
Meanwhile, the Society for the Welfare of Indian Pilots (SWIP) that represents 800-plus pilots of Jet Airways, wrote to Civil Aviation Minister Vaylar Ravi saying that ICPA pilots went on strike only after failure of the conciliation process.
