New Delhi: As
Air India mulled sacking 300 striking Air India pilots, Civil Aviation Minister
Ajit Singh on Monday said the management should take a call now on how long can
the airline keep the defiant pilots on its payroll if they stayed away for
work.
With
the 36-day-old strike showing no signs of being called off, the troubled
national carrier meanwhile set up a committee to review its global operations
to find out how many pilots are actually required to operate the international
flights.
This
committee would advise the management on the actual number of pilots needed to
run Air India's international operations, airline officials said, adding it was
felt that the carrier had far more pilots than it needed.
Singh also cautioned that
"vulnerability" of the state-owned airline to even slightest
irresponsible and agitational act of one or other section of the employees may
lead to raising of eyebrows about its utility and necessity and infusion of
public money to ensure the carrier's survival.
"It is for the Air India management to
take action now. These pilots have not come to work for more than 30 days....It
is an illegal strike,. They have defied the High Court."
"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 said.
Singh cautioned about the
"vulnerability" of Air India in a letter to the Executive pilots,
whom he thanked for not letting Air India "falter during this difficult
time".
He said that any hindrances and obstacles to
the survival of the national carrier, through infusion of funds for Financial
Restructuring Plan have "to be addressed appropriately by all of us
collectively and by acting synergistically".
The Minister said each one of them holds the
key to achieve success for survival and revival and to regain the lost glory by
acheiving the specified benchmarks in a time bound manner.
Since the strike began on May 7, Air India has
sacked 101 striking pilots and de-recognised the Indian Pilots' Guild which has
been leading this agitation.
The Air India management is contemplating
dismissing 300 pilots owing allegiance to IPG, according to sources.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/air-india-to-take-call-on-keeping-striking-pilots/265543-7.html
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