Govt pressure building, cracks appear in unions

The government, as reported in The Indian Express yesterday, had authorised the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security to implement the dreaded SUSCA (Supression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation) under which the minimum sentence is life imprisonment.

This triggered panic among some sections of the forum.

The principal constituent of the forum is the Airports Authority Employees Union led by M K Ghoshal, which has the largest membership comprising Group C and D employees. These employees have been agitating while the officers have ensured they don’t get targeted in case the government comes down heavily on the protest.

Earlier, the forum met Manmohan Singh who assured them that their interests will be kept in mind for the future but was also clear that the process for modernising the two airports will not be rolled back.

In fact, the PM started by saying that he was open to talk on any subject except a rollback. He appealed to the unions to withdraw their agitation in the interest of thousands of passengers.

With not much to show for, the unions went into a huddle after the meeting to reflect on the PM’s words. They sent out feelers that a committee with representatives from the forum must be set up to ensure worker interests in the future.

However, the Civil Aviation Ministry was clear that the agitation must be withdrawn first. It’s learnt that Left leaders were in regular touch with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel through the day. Patel explained to them that the PM’s appeal must be honoured. This was also conveyed to CPM’s Prakash Karat and CPI’s A B Bardhan. But having asked his members to take to the streets, Ghoshal was finding it difficult to convince them why he was withdrawing. With the other constituents also distancing themselves from the protest, Ghoshal and CPM Politbureau member M K Pandhe—who heads the party’s trade union wing—were finding it hard to cobble support for the agitation from their partners.

A meeting of the union leaders and the Left took place at CITU headquarters late tonight. Indications were that they would announce withdrawal of agitation after a meeting of AAI Joint Employees Forum tomorrow at 10 am.

In the meeting with PM, which lasted over an hour, the unions tried to make the case that modernising the two airports was the first step in the ‘‘systematic’’ plan to privatise AAI. However, the government stood firm on its decision