Assure us that our demands will be discussed, we'll join duty right now: pilots
Extending an olive branch in an effort to end the fortnight long strike, Civil Aviation Minister, Ajit Singh on Wednesday offered to take back the 101 sacked Air India pilots on a case-by-case basis. He made a fresh appeal to the protesters to return to work.
In a related development, the Delhi High Court slapped contempt notices on 67 pilots and their union for disobeying court orders.
"There is no bar on taking anybody back but it will be done on a case-by-case basis. We have said it again and again that we are willing to talk and I have committed that in Parliament. Please come back to work. There will be no victimisation. They are not willing to talk unconditionally. They have conditions. It is an illegal strike. Air India management was taking whatever action they need to take," Mr. Singh told journalists here.
Mr. Singh said if the pilots make any credible complaint, we will examine it and take action. "What they have said in the press, they have not given to me as a complaint. Any credible complaint will be looked into," he remarked.
“Ready for talks, reinstate pilots first”
In a chat with reporters here, Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) said they were willing to enter into talks with the Minister if the sack orders were withdrawn. "The Minister has not been or is not being briefed properly by the management on the issue. We are ready for talks and they know our mobile numbers also. We are only a call away. Give us an assurance that our demands will be discussed. We are willing to join duty right now. It can be done in 15 minutes. We are not putting a gun on anyhone’s head or ever intend to do so,’’ the IPG joint secretary, Tauseef Mukadam said.
So far, services of 101 pilots have been terminated for reporting sick and not joining duty. The Air India management is disinclined to take back nearly a dozen office bearers of the IPG, which has been de-recognised. "There is a clear disconnect between what the Minister has said in Parliament that there will be no victimisation and what the management was doing by sacking 101 pilots," Mr. Mukadam said.
Badly impacted by the 14-day long strike, Air India is operating a curtailed international flight schedule as part of a contingency plan and stopped taking fresh bookings till June 1.
The pilots are agitating over the rescheduling of Boeing 787 Dreamliner training and matters relating to their career progression. The IPG also accused the airline management of financial irregularities in leasing of planes, saying that the airline had incurred a loss of Rs. 4,324.28 crore over five years from 2005 on account of leased aircraft operations alone.
the AI Management and the Minister have to prove what stuff they are
made of by ensuring that people get to travel as per their schedules
even if all the pilots go on strike.
Even if they add to the losses for having to foot the bill for the
additional charges for accommodating on the other airlines the
passengers of the cancelled flights they should do it.then only the
pilots will get the message that there is a management and the pilots
are not running AI. The AI management cannot say that if everyone does
his job properly only we are there and if people don't work we are not responsible and we do not know what do to do take care of passengers
already booked by AI.
The AI Management and the Minister should stop dilly dallying as it is
clear that the matter is not going get resolved any day soon. It is
high time they concentrated on the passengers booked by AI and they
should sit withe passenger Itinerary from tomorrow onward and start
facilitating passengers to travel at least as per the Travel Day
schedule if not the timings by accommodating the passengers in
whatever airline has vacancies.unbelievably the AI Management seems to
believe that the Pilots only are responsible for the schedule if they
do not fly the aircraft the others can sit tight and do nothing by
just blaming the pilots. The AI Management owe it their customers to
make every possible effort to ensure they travel as per the Date
chosen to the destination on the ticket. It is not enough to just take
care of passengers who are travelling on Aircraft not affected by the
Pilots strike. They should concentrate on the other passengers as well
and do some action. not just lament.
The govt needs the pilots but the pilots need the govt more.
What did they expect anyway, after remaining absent from duty for so long?
Either way, it seems like talks are on now. There is going to be victimisation, if we can really call it that now. But yeah, the govt is for people and those include the pilots. So, lets hope they'll be nice and fair.
Simple solution: Privatise ASAP (if there are buyers), or GOI should not invest further in a loss making /with full of irresponsible employees, that will bring down the operations and eventaul closure...
This way atleast all the high performing private airlines will survive and compete on a Level playing field and flourish.
...strike, sack, reinstate, forget.....and same cycle continues year after year at Air India. Only people who suffer are air travellers and tax payers. And they don't vote, so it doesn't matter!!!
Hummm blackmailing has started. Are the striking pilots ready to pay back the loss GoI has suffered due their strike? If yes, take them in else let them remain SACKED.
The 101 sacked pilots shouldnot be reinstated. An employee should know how valuble the work is. First the strike is to be ended....
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