Govt empowers Air India to sack 300 striking pilots

With Air India considering further crackdown on the striking pilots, the government today said it is for airlines management to decide for how long to keep them on their payroll when they are not working.

It "is for the Air India management to take action now. These pilots have than 30 days....It is an illegal strike. They have defied the high court," Ajit Singh, Minister for Civil Aviation, Govt of India said, as per a PTI report.

"We have requested them again and again to come back to work. So, it is for the management to decide for how long can they keep them on their payroll when they are not working. And they have no intention of coming back," he told reporters.
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Around 400 Air India pilots owing allegiance to Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) have been on strike since May 7, 2012 and the services of 101 pilots have already been terminated. Sources in the state-owned airline have said "tough action" would be taken against the remaining 300-odd pilots and have given indications that they could be sacked. After virtually shutting the doors on 100 sacked Air India pilots, government was working on a plan to replace them with those shed by some private airlines like Jet Airways.
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Singh had said alternative plans were being made to ensure that operations of the state-run carrier were normalised within two-three months so that the revival plan could be put in place. Observing that there were about 500 expat pilots in the country, he said, "We have to get in touch with them."
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There are about 60-odd expat pilots, trained on wide-body aircraft like Boeing 777s or Airbus A-300s, whose contracts with Jet Airways have ended or are about to expire. Kingfisher Airlines is also facing trouble and the government is hoping that there would be sufficient trained pilots looking for safer haven.
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Maintaining that the strike was illegal and "without any logic", Singh said that it was clear from the attitude of the agitators that "they don't want to work with this organisation (Air India)." He justified his contention by saying these pilots did not want to work with other pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines or the management and had rejected the Dharmadhikari Committee report, which provided for their pay-scales and career graph security.
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The Minister had said that for him, the strike was over and he did not see any point in the striking pilots coming back. Holding that the young pilots had been "misled", the Minister said he did not want to take anybody's job but could do nothing as the striking pilots were not ready to resolve their issues through dialogue.
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"I have maintained that there will be no victimisation, we will not be vindictive," he said, lamenting that the strike was still continuing. Pilots have to undergo thorough medical check-ups two weeks after they report sick, while the refresher training is required if they don't fly for 30 days.
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"It is easy to take away jobs. But creation of jobs is very difficult. I don't want to take away anybody's job," Singh said. Criticising the agitators for going on strike during the peak season without any notice, he said it was time for everybody to work for the turnaround of Air India, for which the government has earmarked Rs 30,000 crore. He underlined that this amount would be available only when certain financial and operational milestones were achieved by the airline in a phased manner over nine years.

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