New Delhi: Air India pilots on Monday demanded
payment of their salaries and incentives before November 20,
failing which they would be forced to proceed on strike as per
the notice given to the airline management.
"We have asked the management to pay our salary and
incentives and come up with some positive steps for company's
turnaround by November 20," said Captain Shailendra Singh,
president of Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA),
after three-and-half-hour long meeting with the Central Labour
Commissioner (CLC) and airline management here.
Terming the first round of talks as unproductive, he said
the second round of talks would be held on November 20.
"If on that day too they fail give us some positive
outcome then we would forced to proceed on strike from
November 24 as per the notice," Singh said.
The pilots' association, on November 2, had written a
letter to Air India Chairman-cum-Managing Director Arvind
Jadhav for payment of their salaries and incentives by
November 10, failing which they would be forced to proceed on
strike from November 24.
They also demanded that the management should come up
with a turnaround plan in which there should be no cut in the
employees' salaries.
Alleging that Indian pilots were being given step-
motherly treatment, Singh said "every month expats pilots are
being paid their salaries and incentives and only Indian
pilots are facing delay in payment of their salaries and PLI."
Besides Singh, pilots were represented by ICPA general
secretary R S Otal, executive committee members Ravidner Singh
and Shiraz Farooqui, while Executive Director (Industrial
Relations) T R Ramachandran represented Air India.
The pilots also raised the issue of mismanagement in the
airlines, like order for more aircrafts than required, change
of timings of flights which were having almost full passenger
load among others.
They also demanded that if the merger of Air India and
Indian Airlines has been done, then there should be uniformity
in their work, salaries and other employee-related issues.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, November 09, 2009, 22:17