1,000 IndiGo ground staff in city align with MNS-backed union

Mumbai: Amid internal turmoil in the Shiv Sena, an estimated 1,000 to 1,100 ground staff of IndiGo airlines working at the Mumbai airport have severed ties with Sena-backed Bharatiya Kamgar Sena (BKS) and pledged allegiance to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led Hawai Karmachari Sena (HAKSE)

Mumbai: Amid internal turmoil in the Shiv Sena, an estimated 1,000 to 1,100 ground staff of IndiGo airlines working at the Mumbai airport have severed ties with Sena-backed Bharatiya Kamgar Sena (BKS) and pledged allegiance to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led Hawai Karmachari Sena (HAKSE).

Mumbai, India,Oct. 10: Amid internal turmoil in the Shiv Shena, an estimated 1,000 to 1,100 ground staff of Indigo Airlines working at the Mumbai Airport have broken away from the party-backed Bharatiya Kamgar Sena (BKS) and pledged allegiance to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led Hawai Karmachari Sena (HAKSE), after representatives met with party chief Raj Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai, India, on Monday, Oct. 10, 2022. (HT Photo / Hindustan Times)

The decision came after the representatives met with party chief Raj Thackeray at his residence on Monday morning.

Nitin Sardesai, MNS party leader and chairman, HAKSE, confirmed the development. “Around 70 to 75% of all IndiGo ground staff in Mumbai, from service partners to cleaners to people working on cargo transportation and loading, today parted ways with the Shiv Sena and have joined us. More are expected to join in the coming days. The Bharatiya Kamgar Sena has not adequately represented their interests,” he said.

Bhimrao Sawalkar, a Sion resident and IndiGo staffer, who was present at Monday’s meeting, said, “Around 250 of us met with Raj Thackeray and Nitin Sardesai on Monday for over two hours. We have grown tired of the favouritism within the BKS. There is hardly any relationship between the members and the union leaders anymore.”

However, neither Sardesai nor Sawalkar elaborated on the political or employment gains that the ground staff stand to draw from the switchover.

Speaking anonymously, a veteran union leader in the aviation sector brushed off this move as mere political posturing. “This has nothing to do with any specific issue as far as we can tell. It could be something to do with the internal turmoil within the Shiv Sena, but in that case, aligning with Eknath Shinde’s camp would make the most sense. The MNS-back union has little power to speak of, and such flip-flopping often happens in union politics with no outcome.”