Jet pilots call off agitation

Pilots’ union to be dissolved, say sources

In a late night development, the agitating Jet Airways pilots decided to resume duty after seven hours of talks with the senior management.

Under the agreement, the National Aviators’ Guild (NAG), the union of the pilots, decided to join duty with immediate effect. The management, said sources, decided to take back the sacked pilots. The NAG, they said, would be dissolved and a committee to look into the coordination between the pilots and the management would be formed. The committee would work under the central labour commissioner. Dissolution of the NAG was one of the main demands of the airline’s management.

Earlier in the evening, after a meeting with the Jet Airways management led by Executive Director Saroj Datta in Hotel Athithi in Mumbai, NAG President Girish Kaushik and the chief negotiator for the pilots had said:  “I would pray to God that we start flying today itself.”

There were indications that the management had softened its stance in the confrontation. At the time, the management had told the pilots that it will not insist on disbanding their union, though it wants them to consider the wisdom of a union. In the past, it has insisted on the abolishment of the union as a precondition for talks. “The management has not insisted on disbanding the union but has some reservation on what the union could mean for the organisation,” said Kaushik.

Yesterday, nine-hour-long negotiations between the management of Jet Airways and the pilots of NAG ended in a deadlock with the management agreeing to reinstate the four sacked pilots but with a stiff rider: Dissolve the union and form an association. The condition put forward by the management was not acceptable to the pilots.

Even as members of the pilots’ union went into a huddle to discuss the offer late in the evening, the airline, which operates 365 domestic and 74 international flights daily, was forced to cancel over 281 flights today, including 21 international flights.

On Thursday, a draft was worked out late night between Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, representatives of the pilots and Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal in which the management agreed to reinstate the sacked pilots.

It all started when the airline management terminated the services of two pilots — Sam Thomas and D Balaraman — allegedly for forming a union. Jet pilots, who earlier had an association, formed a union, NAG. They alleged that the airline management changed some clauses in their contracts.

The union was registered on July 21 and the pilots were terminated on July 31. The pilots then tried to negotiate with the management but when nothing worked out they gave an indefinite strike call from September 7, which was later called off since the conciliatory proceedings were on with the labour commissioner. But the pilots went on mass sick leave which badly disturbed the operations of Jet.