Nacil staff defer stir as govt calls for negotiations

The Civil Aviation Joint Action Forum (CAJAF), has deferred its proposed agitation over Air India forming a joint venture in ground-handling with SATS, following Government inviting its leaders for negotiations on March 20.

"We have postponed our proposed agitation from today as the Government has called for talks. We will be meeting the Civil Aviation Secretary, M Madhavan Nambiar, on March 20 and put across our view point," Air Corporation Employees Union's General Secretary, Vivek Rao, told PTI here today.

The venue for the meeting has, however, not been decided as yet, Rao said, adding that, this is for the first time the Government has agreed to solicit views from the unions on this critical issue.

ACEU, which is the union of erstwhile Indian Airlines employees, has formed a common front with Aviation Industry Employees Guild (AIEG), the Air India employees union, to take up the cause of over 10,000 employees involved in ground-handling operations at airports across the country.

The Government on February 23 had approved the Civil Aviation Ministry proposal to allow NACIL, the holding company of Air India and erstwhile Indian to form JVs with Singapore Air Terminal Services (SATS) to provide ground-handling facilities at all major airports across the country.

Late last month, the Forum, which is the umbrella employees union of NACIL, had threatened to launch an agitation on the issue from today, including a strike, on the ground that the management had "violated" commitments given to the Forum that it would be consulted on the issue of setting up of JV companies.

The Forum is opposing the JV on the ground that it is aimed at privatisation of Indian airports through the back door. It would also result in job losses, the Forum said.

The government could not do it directly because it feared a backlash from the employees. Hence, it has resorted to this back-door entry of private operators through the JV route," Rao said, adding, "This poses not only a serious threat to national security but also to ground-handling jobs in Air India."

The Forum is also planning to come out with a comprehensive fact-sheet in the form of a booklet on the proposed joint venture and the dangers it poses, he said.