After a 10 day strike that grounded Air India, and three days of negotiations involving the pilots, the Management of Air India and the Civil Aviation Ministry, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association withdrew their strike on May 6, 2011.
After a 10 day strike that grounded Air India, and three days of negotiations involving the pilots, the Management of Air India and the Civil Aviation Ministry, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association withdrew their strike on May 6, 2011.
The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) has pointed out that the agreement between the pilots, the Ministry, and the management of Air India included
- Immediate re-recognition of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association, which had been derecognized by the management when the pilots went on strike.
- Revocation by the management of orders regarding termination/ suspension of pilots immediately following withdrawal of strike.
- Consideration of matters relating to parity and working conditions by the Dharmadhikari Committee.
- Withdrawal of all black orders issued by the CMD of Air India Arvind Jadhav, post the strike notice dated 23.02.2011.
On May 27, 2011, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association wrote to the Civil Aviation Minister, pointing out that the experience of 21 days following the end of the strike revealed that the CMD of Air India was putting spokes in every step of the way in implementing the terms of the agreement. The ICPA requested the urgent intervention of the Minister to direct the CMD to abide by the agreement.
The ICPA has pointed out that the management tried to prevent the reopening of the ICPA office and a big struggle had to be waged to ensure the same. The management tried to say they would give an alternative place, the aim being to remove the ICPA from the office it has had for so many years as the Union of the pilots of the Indian Airlines.
The management tried to demoralize and divide the pilots by violating the agreement on taking back the nine terminated pilots. It took one week of struggle to ensure the same. Earlier, the management said it would take back the six members of the CEC of the ICPA, but not the three pilots serving as Deputy General Managers. This was obviously aimed at breaking the unity of the pilots. The six members of the CEC of ICPA refused to accept the withdrawal of their termination until the termination of the other three was also revoked.
The ICPA has pointed out that no meeting has been arranged with the Dharmadhikari Committee even 21 days after the agreement.
They have also pointed out that not one of the black orders that had been promulgated by the CMD in the period after the strike notice was given on February 23, 2011, has been withdrawn. They have given the copy of these orders to the Minister yet again.
Elaborating on the continued attacks on the pilots as well as moves to liquidate Air India, the ICPA has raised the following issues with the management as well as with the Civil Aviation Minister.
The management has refused to pay the salaries of the pilots, using the strike as an excuse. It has paid all other employees of Air India their salaries. This is in direct violation of the agreement of May 6, 2011, as well as of the memorandum of settlement between the Management, ICPA and the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) dated 30 November 2009. The pilots have pointed out that even their salaries for the month of March have not been paid.
The management has issued verbal instructions to deny pilots SOL (staff on leave) passages all over India. This is applicable to only pilots and not other staff. Earlier, in the days preceding the strike, the management had also issued instructions to stop SOD (staff on duty) and SOL passages from Thursdays to Sundays. The pilots had protested this move then, and have once again raised their voice against the management against this unwritten attack. They have demanded that passages be issued as per service rules, so that pilots are not inconvenienced. This move has stranded many pilots and their families in different parts of India and the world, as they are forced to pay out of their pocket to report to duty or return home.
The pilots have pointed out that 27 profitable routes have been terminated since the end of the strike. They have provided a list of these routes. This is a sure fire step to liquidate Air India. The reason given by the CMD is that there is a shortage of Aviation Fuel and that the Airline does not have money to buy Aviation Fuel. It has also advanced the argument that it lacks sufficient pilots to fly these routes! These routes have been closed down precisely in the summer rush period, indicating questionable intentions. Pilots have demanded immediate restarting of these routes.
Many pilots have been kept waiting for days after the strike ended and not given routes to fly. This is part of the harassment of pilots. During the discussions with the Management and the Ministry, the Management had agreed to the pilots demand to increase flying hours of pilots, as well as the flying hours of planes, as part of turning around the Airline. However the management is doing the opposite. It is cutting down flights and deliberately keeping the planes and pilots idle with one excuse or other. Since 80% of the wages of pilots is linked to the hours they fly, this is also a way of attacking their livelihood.
According to the agreement, all matters related to service conditions had to be settled by the Dharmadhikari Committee after hearing all concerned parties, including all the unions. However the CMD Arvind Jadhav has arbitrarily promoted various people of the erstwhile Air India, in violation of this agreement, in the period after the strike. The aim is to drive a wedge amongst the pilots, by giving preference to the Air India pilots while ignoring the pilots of Indian Airlines who are organized under the ICPA. It must be noted that the Indian Pilots Guild, the union of Pilots of erstwhile Air India, had extended support to the ICPA during the strike. Therefore these arbitrary promotions are also aimed at disrupting the unity with the Indian Pilots Guild.
To further harass the pilots and liquidate Air India, the CMD has given 15 planes to Alliance Air. Alliance Air has advertised for recruitment of fresh pilots. The ICPA has asked the management the rationale of this move. The existing fleet of A320 family planes is already lying extremely underutilized. The utilization factor is 55 hours. In the meeting of ICPA with the management on May 7 2011, the latter had agreed that every effort would be made to increase the flying so that all pilots are utilized at least 75 hours. Instead of doing so, advertisement has been put for recruitment of fresh pilots for Alliance Air.
In the agreement of May 6 with the Management and the Ministry, it was agreed that to improve the efficiency of Air India, the flying of airplanes which is currently at 9 hours a day would be increased to at least 12-14 hours, thereby increasing the flying of pilots as well. The pilots have demanded the cancellation of the advertisement for recruitment of fresh pilots.
The Pilots organized under the ICPA are waging a tit for tat struggle with the management, to defend their rights and dignity, as well as to ensure that the Airline does not get liquidated and privatized. The Management headed by CMD Arvind Jadhav is targeting the pilots and their Union, as they represent the most advanced and organized section of the over 40,000 workers of Air India.
Thus, when the Management went to the court and asked for withdrawal of the case against the pilots citing that the strike had ended, the pilots pointed out that the issues they had raised in their counter arguments in the court should be given due consideration. These issues included various actions committed by Arvind Jadhav, which were turning Air India from a profitable enterprise into a loss making one, preparing conditions for its liquidation and privatization. The court has now converted the case into a Public Interest Litigation and asked the management and the pilots to put forth their respective arguments again.
The struggle of the Air India Pilots is a just struggle. The Communist Ghadar Party of India fully supports this ongoing struggle.