The Hindu : AI pilots to move court

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2003

National

National

AI pilots to move court

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI April 29. Air-India today took a series of measures to subdue the agitating, SARS-scared pilots — it derecognised their union, the Indian Pilots' Guild (IGP) and suspended 18 more pilots, taking the total to 45.

The airline also filed caveats in the Mumbai and Delhi High Courts to ensure that the courts granted no stay or ex-parte decision without hearing the AI. The step followed the IPG's threat to challenge the suspension and other actions.

The IGP denounced the action and its general secretary, Vikrant Sansare, called it unlawful and unilateral. The union would soon move the court.

Toughening its stand, the AI indicated that it may wet-lease aircraft (chartering the plane with the operating service) for maintaining its schedule. Its spokesman said that in view of the global recession in the air travel industry, even premier airlines had such capacity to spare.

Meanwhile, the Regional Labour Commissioner here, Shiv Kumar, heard both the sides at length and concluded that no agreement could be reached. He is expected to send his report to the Central Labour Commissioner in New Delhi, S.K. Mukhopadhyay. The AI spokesman said that derecognition was an extreme step, because the IGP violated the agreement of September 1998. The management had also withdrawn the privileges given to the IPG office-bearers, such as convenient duty roaster and even on-duty free tickets to travel abroad to attend meetings.

However, the AI has not burnt its bridges with the guild. None of the office-bearers figures among suspended pilots and the airline has excluded even its executive committee members from the disciplinary action. The spokesman could not say if they were included and could not explain why the leaders spearheading the "unjust and illegal" agitation were being spared. Kennil Khan, one of the senior flight commanders and among the makers of the IGP directives who abandoned the flight, is facing no action. He is the president of the IGP. The IGP has directed its member-pilots not to take off if the management did not certify that the cabin crew had not flown the SARS-affected routes in the previous 10 days.

The management stand is that such a certificate is unwarranted and that the pilots have no business to ask for it because health is the responsibility of the health officer of the airport of origin. Only two countries — Japan and the U.S — ask for a health certificate for the crew covering injury, incapacity, influence of alcohol and drugs and that is also the responsibility of the flight commander and not the co-pilot. Most of the flight commanders are executive pilots who are not members of the IPG.

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