IPG: Will resume duty if sacked pilots taken back,union recognised

The 400-odd pilots belonging to IPG have been on strike since May 8

The Indian Pilots Guild (IPG),cornered after the government announced the principles for pay parity for all 30,000 Air India employees,on Saturday said they were willing to resume duty if an assurance was given on re-instatement of 101 sacked pilots and re-recognition of their union. The 400-odd pilots belonging to IPG have been on strike since May 8.

We want to come back to work,but there has to be some assurance from the responsible authorities that they would take back all our colleagues and re-instate our union, said an IPG member.

Their consistent attempts to reach out to the civil aviation minister Ajit Singh through his senior cabinet colleagues have failed to achieve any breakthrough.

We are Air India. Its loss is our loss. Its fate is our fate, IPG said in a statement today,while making a plea to the AI CMD Rohit Nandan to hold a dialogue with them.

On Thursday,a day before Singh made public the Dharmadhikari report on pay parity,the pilots were involved in backroom discussions with the minister through a negotiator.

Based on assurances received,whereby their union was to be re-recognised and ten union leaders re-instated in the next couple of months,the pilots agreed to withdraw their strike. A source in the know said that the IPG had also prepared a letter calling off the strike,which was later forwarded to the minister.