More AI pilots sacked, HC calls strike illegal

NEW DELHI: Maintaining their stand of not reporting to duty, the erstwhile Air India pilots-led union Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) said that it is going to continue its strike even as the Air India management issued dismissal letters to 26 more pilots who reported sick and approached the Delhi High Court for relief on Wednesday. The court directed over 200 agitating Air India pilots to stop their “illegal strike”, and barred them from reporting sick or staging demonstrations.

The Air India Management represented by advocate Lalit Bhasin appealed to the court that the IPG had resorted to illegal means for pressuring the management to adhere to its demands. “This sort of blackmailing is unreasonable and the court has appreciated our concerns. The pilots have been directed to discontinue their current en masse reporting sick and instructed not to resort to any kind of public agitation around any of the Air India premises in the country,” Bhasin said.

In its appeal, the Air India management had said that almost 5,000 passengers had suffered because of the strike until Tuesday. Meanwhile, an IPG representative told Express that their agitations will continue. “They have issued only 36 dismissal letters. They have to do the same for 530 more pilots. We will agitate till all of us get dismissal letters,” the representative said.

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said that a dialogue was possible only if the pilots resumed duty. “Discussions and disruptions cannot take place simultaneously. Air India is almost bankrupt and not able to pay salaries for months. Neither has it paid the AAI or the oil companies. So, in these times of crisis if the pilots don’t cooperate we are willing to downsize the airline,” he said, adding that when in the next few months they start discussing the integration plan suggested by Justice Dharmadhikari, pilots from both unions would be involved. “If you keep striking... every three months, then we are not ready to invest public money in Air India,” he said.

The AI spokesperson said now the HC directive would prevail lest the pilots would be held in contempt of court.

http://expressbuzz.com/nation/More-AI-pilots-sacked-HC-calls-strike-illegal/390190.html