Jet pilots to move tribunal after HC rebuff

Having lost their case in the Bombay High Court (HC) against deregistration of their union, Jet Airways pilots plan to go to an industrial tribunal.

The HC had, recently, rejected the plea that the labour commissioner could not deregister a union. For other details, it directed the pilots’ representatives to approach a tribunal.

Jet Airways’ pilots registered a union, called the National Aviators Guild (NAG), which called a brief strike last September. The stir, on the issue of suspension of two pilots, was withdrawn after five days. The deregistration came later.

“Our union was deregistered on frivolous grounds and we will move the Supreme Court if we do not get (a favourable) judgment in the lower courts,” said a representative of the pilots.

No private airline in India has a pilots’ union, as understood by the law in this regard. Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines each have a pilots’ association. State-run Air India, however, has two pilots’ unions.

During the September strike by Jet’s pilots, the government was reported to be considering an amendment to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, to exclude airline pilots and commanders in charge from the definition of ‘workmen’, thus making it illegal for them to form trade unions and go on strike.

Recently, nearly 2,000 pilots from across the country came together to form an umbrella union called the Air Line Pilots’ Association of India.