Air India CMD trying to provoke pilots' strike: ICPA

A major pilots' association has charged Air India chief Arvind Jadhav with trying to provoke a strike and on that pretext declare a lockout which could make several wage agreements lapse.

A major pilots' association has charged Air India chief Arvind Jadhav with trying to provoke a strike and on that pretext declare a lockout which could make several wage agreements lapse.

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Responding to an interview of Jadhav and a report on the national carrier in a leading journal, the Indian Commercial
Pilots Association (ICPA) quoted the airline CMD as saying that the turnaround strategy was like a "chess game" and that
a lockout would have "broken the back of the unions had it lasted 15 days" and all existing wage agreements would have
lapsed.

In a letter to the CMD, ICPA President Capt Shailendra Singh asked, "... does this mean that you have planned to
create conditions for strike and that it should continue for 15 days?"

He alleged that the five-day stir by senior pilots in September "seems to be a clear example of the above where
conditions were created by you to push the agitation every hour causing a loss of Rs 100 crore".

Singh further said, "It seems you are not satisfied with this and have planned for another strike. Please note that the airline is a national property and anybody working against the interest is called a traitor."

He said such motives "will not be tolerated and allowed to succeed."