Mumbai: Air India pilots on Thursday renewed their
threat to go on strike from November 24, if their demands for
incentives and allowances were not met in the next five days.
"The ICPA will not withdraw its strike call on November
24 unless all its demands are met by November 10," a
resolution adopted by the Central Committee of the Indian
Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA) said.
After their meeting in Chennai, ICPA sources said: "Even
if the government clears our three month dues (allowances), we
are not going to relent. We want the government to implement
all the pending demands".
The meeting, attended by the representatives from all
four regions of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, resolved
to pursue their demands which include payment of pending
allowances since August, bringing their salary structure on
par with Air India pilots, implementation of wage agreement,
exploring avenues for enhancing revenue other than wage cuts
and implementation of their suggestions on cost-cutting.
The ICPA claims representing 880 pilots of the erswthile
Indian Airlines, who are part of the merged airline's 1250-
strong pilot strength, barring trainees and expats.
ICPA on Nov 1 had shot off a letter to AI CMD Arvind
Jadhav, blaming the management for its "repeated failure" to
address their grievances and threatening a strike from
November 24 if their demands were not met by November 10.
Earlier in Sep, about 400 Air India pilots had gone on
mass sick leave for four days to protest pay cuts, resulting
in more than 200 flights being cancelled.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 05, 2009, 21:29