AI pilots from Indian Pilots Guild vote on strike notice
29 Oct 2011
Mumbai: Air India pilots belonging to the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), an association of pilots belonging to the erstwhile Air India (International), began an online ballot process among their members on the issue of serving a strike notice to the airline management on Tuesday.
IPG members are angry at delays in payment of salaries as also that of productivity-linked incentives, and also at the management's move to decide on issues relating to their career progression and promotion. Guild members claim this issue is under the jurisdiction of the justice Dharmadhikari committee, which has been constituted to go into the entire gamut of HR issues relating to the merger of the two state-run carriers.
IPG sources said by taking decisions "relating to our career progression, the management is pre-empting the outcome of the Dharmadhikari panel which is yet to submit its report."
Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA), which consists of the former Indian Airlines pilots, has no plans to associate itself with the strike so far, a spokesperson said.
"We plan to serve a strike notice to the Air India management by Monday or Tuesday. We began a vote on the matter today, which may run for a few days. But the outcome of the vote won't be the sole determinant of the strike plan...it will only decide on the timing of the strike," an IPG source was quoted as saying.
The IPG pilots mostly fly Boeing aircraft and represent around 300 pilots of the pre-merger Air India, while the ICPA pilots, which mostly fly Air bus aircraft, represent around 1,400 pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines.
