Two months ago, the strike by the pilots of Air India organised under the banner of Indian Pilots Guild was called off following the intervention of the High Court.
Two months ago, the strike by the pilots of Air India organised under the banner of Indian Pilots Guild was called off following the intervention of the High Court. At that time, the management of Air India and the Civil Aviation Ministry had assured the court that they would take a sympathetic attitude to the demands of the pilots and refrain from being vindictive to the striking pilots.
Developments since then have revealed that the Air India Management and the Civil Aviation Ministry have systematically pursued the plan to smash the Indian Pilots Guild.
Out of the 400 odd pilots who had gone strike, 97 had been served dismissal notices during the course of the strike. This included all 10 committee members, the leaders of the IPG.
After the resumption of operations in July, 2012, the 97 dismissed pilots were asked to submit fresh applications for reinstatement. Only 40 of these pilots have so far been taken back to duty and the authorities have kept the fate of the remaining 50 hanging. They have been particularly vicious towards the leadership of the IPG, the 10 committee members. 5 of these committee members were called for the “interview” for reinstatement. Acting out their well rehearsed plan all these 5 members were “interviewed” for just two to three minutes and in all of their cases the result of the interview was same – all the 5 applications were summarily rejected. The fate of the remaining 5 committee members who are still waiting for their “interview” is expected to be similar – they would also be left on the streets.
According to the pilots, the Civil Aviation Minister, Ajit Singh and the Air India Authorities have instructed other private airlines not to employ these dismissed pilots. This reveals that the Air India authorities and the Civil Aviation Ministry have been working according to plan to smash the Indian Pilots Guild.
The Communist Ghadar Party condemns the fascist attitude of the management of Air India and the government to the pilots of Air India. The struggle to ensure that all the dismissed pilots are reinstated is a completely just struggle. It deserves the support of not only all sections of employees of Air India, but also that of the entire working class of our country.