Air India sacked 10 agitating Pilots
NEW DELHI: The aviation minister Ajit Singh termed the strike by pilots as illegal and sacked 10 agitating pilots and derecognized Nationalist Congress Party-backed union, Indian Pilots Guild (IPG).
This will further increase the uncertainty in sight for passengers scheduled to fly Air India’s international flights. The airline has also sending doctors to the home of those pilots who were reported ill or sick. These pilots were abstaining from their duties since Monday morning.
According to sources the Avaition minister said, “They have not given any strike notice and this agitation is illegal. IPG has demanded things like fast track promotion to commander’s position in six years instead of 10 and permission to fly first class for staff on duty. When public money in thousands of crores is being earmarked for saving AI, such a strike is completely uncalled for. The public should not be inconvenienced, discussion and disruption cannot happen simultaneously.” He also rules out any talks with IPG.
But IPG was unrelenting, TOI quoted the statement of their leader Maharashtra NCP MLA Jitendra Ahwad saying, “The derecognition of IPG is undemocratic and just shows that the management is biased against erstwhile AI. Pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines have gone on several strikes in the recent past but was their union, Indian Commercial Pilots Association, ever derecognized?”
Some of the prestigious nonstop flights like Delhi-Toronto, Delhi-Chicago and Mumbai-Newark, were cancelled on Monday night-Tuesday morning.
An official said that they will not give in to the strong arm tactics of IPG.
He was further quoted by TOI saying that, “The government has earmarked Rs 30,000 crore for AI and the total bailout package with the debt restructuring works out to Rs 42,000 crore. With this kind of public money being set aside for reviving AI, can such actions be justified? If such indiscipline continues, there may be a rethink on the entire package.”
