UPA lets pilots remain workmen

The UPA government has decided against a move to exclude pilots from the definition of workmen,which could have made it illegal for them to form trade unions and go on strike....

The UPA government has decided against a move to exclude pilots from the definition of workmen,which could have made it illegal for them to form trade unions and go on strike.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour had,in its report on Industrial Disputes Amendment Bill,2009 submitted in Parliament last December,recommended that the government bring out a list of highly paid jobs under the workmen category,and take them out of the purview of the laws relating to workmen. Highly-paid employees like pilots are quite capable of negotiating their terms of employment on their own since they hardly take recourse to the Industrial Disputes Act,1947,the committe had contended.

In an internal note of the Ministry of Labour amp; Employment,accessed by The Indian Express,the government has decided to reject this recommendation on the plea that exclusion of pilots and flight engineers from the definition of workmen as per the salary limit means that there will be no dispute settlement machinery for them. It has been observed in the past that strike by pilots needed intervention by conciliation officers, added the official note on the Parliamentary Standing Committee report. The Ministry was learnt to be planning to move the Industrial Disputes Amendment Bill in the forthcoming session of Parliament.

The proposal to take out pilots from the purview of labour laws for workmen and re-classify them as executives had been moved by the Civil Aviation Ministry during the previous NDA regime in 2003. Then Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma was reported to have favoured this proposal.

Asked about the Ministrys decision not to accept Parliamentary Standing Committees recommendation,Minister of State for Labour amp; Employment Harish Rawat told The Indian Express: We have decided not to accept it because we believe that there is no other grievance redressal system for pilots. If they give notice of strike,we can make them sit with the Labour Commissioner or call the aviation companies to settle the matter. As long as there is no other alternative mechanism,we cannot keep them out of the category of workmen. Asked what other alternative mechanism the Ministry proposed,Rawat said,The Civil Aviation Ministry should work for an alternative mechanism.