Air India Pilots Strike
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Air India Pilots Strike
About 398 unionised pilots of Air India belonging to their international air arm are on strike for the 6th day and the management has sacked more than 70 of them and the numbers are rising every day.
These pilots are on strike citing favouritism and discrimination from their management ,following the airlines merger with Indian Airlines in 2007 .
The management has recently decided to migrate relatively junior pilots belonging to the erstwhile domestic Indian Airlines to the international arm without resolving inter-se seniority issues and thus depriving many co-pilots command upgrade opportunities.
Another interesting fact is that the union that is on strike is controlled by a political party , the NCP ,that effected the blotched airline merger in the first place. This political party is also known for its affiliation with certain rival airlines and has often been accused of sabotaging Air India with detrimental,controversial policy decisions.
Whether this strike has been engineered by the NCP ,by exploiting the sentiments of gullible,genuinely aggrieved ppilots , to disrupt Air India's schedules to tip the market share in the rival airlines' favour is a possibility. This political party also forms a coalition federal government and it is surprising that it has not used its influence with powerful central ministers to resolve the issue with their intervention.
This also gives the corrupt government an opportunity to justify bailing out ailing private carriers by allowing them to add additional capacity by wet leasing aircraft to carry Air India's passengers. Prolonging the strike and sacking pilots will also enable the government to skew the balance of workers in the favour of a rival union and enter into a new wage agreement.
A diabolical plot no doubt , but a distinct possibility.
These pilots are on strike citing favouritism and discrimination from their management ,following the airlines merger with Indian Airlines in 2007 .
The management has recently decided to migrate relatively junior pilots belonging to the erstwhile domestic Indian Airlines to the international arm without resolving inter-se seniority issues and thus depriving many co-pilots command upgrade opportunities.
Another interesting fact is that the union that is on strike is controlled by a political party , the NCP ,that effected the blotched airline merger in the first place. This political party is also known for its affiliation with certain rival airlines and has often been accused of sabotaging Air India with detrimental,controversial policy decisions.
Whether this strike has been engineered by the NCP ,by exploiting the sentiments of gullible,genuinely aggrieved ppilots , to disrupt Air India's schedules to tip the market share in the rival airlines' favour is a possibility. This political party also forms a coalition federal government and it is surprising that it has not used its influence with powerful central ministers to resolve the issue with their intervention.
This also gives the corrupt government an opportunity to justify bailing out ailing private carriers by allowing them to add additional capacity by wet leasing aircraft to carry Air India's passengers. Prolonging the strike and sacking pilots will also enable the government to skew the balance of workers in the favour of a rival union and enter into a new wage agreement.
A diabolical plot no doubt , but a distinct possibility.
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Better off sacking more of them.
Why are they so bothered about the 787 anyway? Why not just be happy on the 777.... The money must be about the same?
The AI pilots are not held in very high regard by the public or Governement so all they are doing is expediting their way into unemployment.
I can hardly see IndiGo and Jet rushing to sign up a bunch of union hard liners.
Why are they so bothered about the 787 anyway? Why not just be happy on the 777.... The money must be about the same?
The AI pilots are not held in very high regard by the public or Governement so all they are doing is expediting their way into unemployment.
I can hardly see IndiGo and Jet rushing to sign up a bunch of union hard liners.
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Isn't there a law in India protecting employers from being dismissed for union activities? One would think this would classify as unfair dismissal since it probably is an official strike authorized by the union.
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Flight Global - 71 pilots fired
Just saw the article from Flight Global, which does clarify my question:
As I understand a sick-out campain is illegal industrial action.
Just saw the article from Flight Global, which does clarify my question:
The pilots, who were from Indian Airlines, which merged with Air India in 2007, went on strike on 7 May by reporting sick.
India's flag carrier sacked them as they continued to defy a court order, which declared that the strikes were illegal and issued "restraining orders" to the pilots.
