AI pilots meet Labour Commissioner

A section of Air India (AI) pilots, who have threatened to go on strike tomorrow demanding pay parity and better working conditions, today met the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) as part of the conciliation process.

The talks between the leaders of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and the CLC began this morning with pilots sticking to their demands even as Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi appealed to them to withdraw the strike.

"Talks are on with the CLC. We are trying to avoid the strike. We just want parity in working conditions with the erstwhile AI pilots," ICPA General Secretary Rishab Kapoor said.

Yesterday after a meeting with the pilots, Ravi had announced setting up a three-member committee to consider the demands of the agitating AI pilots.

The ICPA, which represents around 800 pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines, had served a 14-day strike notice, under Section 22 of the Industrial Disputes Act to airline CMD Arvind Jadhav, charging the management with having failed to address their grievances and violated agreements on issues like pay parity and better working conditions.

The union claimed "various dates and deadlines have come and gone and the management has failed to keep its promises and assurances". As a result, the erstwhile Indian Airlines' pilots have been "incurring heavy financial losses".

The ICPA also alleged "racial discrimination in their own country perpetrated by the national carrier", indicating the differences in pays and perks offered to the expatriate pilots AI has kept on its rolls.

Apart from differences in salaries and working conditions of pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines and AI, the ICPA members are also protesting instances of delay in payment of salaries, "violation" of a Memorandum of Settlement signed in November 2009 and the management's "failure" to implement the 6th Pay Commission recommendations.