Pilots hold protest over unpaid dues

The employees,holding Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav responsible for the present crisis in the airline,demanded his removal and regularisation of payment of their due salaries and productivity linked incentives (PLI) since September this year.

“We do not want to go on strike. But now that the government is holding us (the employees) responsible for the crisis,our patience is running out. If we do not get a response from the management now,we will be forced to go on strike from November 24,as decided,” the president of the Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA),Captain Shailendra Singh,said.

The protestors marched from Jantar Mantar to Parliament House on Thursday,and later held a silent protest march at Indira Gandhi International Airport’s domestic terminal,T1A.

On Tuesday,however,a group of Air India pilots staged a silent march at the domestic airport in Mumbai to protest the delay in payment of salaries and allowances.

In view of the protest,the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) had announced the same day that the management was trying to address the issue concerning delayed payments of PLI to employees,also mentioning that the airline had witnessed an improvement in passenger carriage in recent months.

“The delay has ranged from one to two months in the past. Efforts are being made to settle the PLI payable in October 2009 shortly,so that the PLI arrears are cleared till date and that future PLI payments are not in arrears for more than a month,” the management had announced.

Giving an ultimatum to the management,the ICPA,Air Corporation Employees’ Union (ACEU),Indian Airlines Technician’s Association (IATA) and Indian Airlines Officer’s Association (IAOA) said if the employees do not get their due salaries and PLI by November 24,all 32,000 employees would go on strike.

Alleging that the Air India management was closing all profitable routes,instead of loss-making ones,general secretary of ACEU J B Kadian said: “This is a systematic approach to sabotage the company and we are being projected as the reason behind the current financial crisis.”

The protesting employees,mostly from erstwhile Indian Airlines,alleged that when Air India and Indian Airlines were merged,they were told that it was being done for the profit of the company. “Now we are apprehensive about the company’s survival,” they added.

Later,employees handed over a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil and other MPs demanding their intervention in the matter.