New Delhi: A section of Air India pilots
on Thursday sought intervention of Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar
Ravi, saying the airline management was "not serious" about
addressing their concerns and trying to precipitate industrial
action.
The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), which was
called for a meeting with Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav in
Mumbai today, is understood to have shot off a letter to the
Minister after the meeting failed to take place and sought his
intervention in the matter.
While the ICPA represents pilots of the erstwhile Indian
Airlines, the Indian Pilots Guild represents the cockpit crew
of the erstwhile Air India.
Alleging that the CMD did not meet their representatives
as scheduled "despite being present in his office", ICPA
sources said it showed Jadhav was "not serious about
addressing our concerns and in fact precipitating industrial
action against the best interest of the airline".
The ICPA wanted "urgent intervention" by Ravi at the
earliest so as to avoid any "unwarranted" industrial action.
The sources said if there was no response from the
government, the ICPA could go ahead with serving notices for
non-cooperation and other industrial action soon which may
affect flights.
Soon after taking over charge last week, the new Civil
Aviation Minister had sought the support of all employees of
ailing Air India to restore its lost glory and said the staff
and the management should work in coordination to achieve
this.
PTI
