AI Pilots Strike - break the impasse

(prHWY.com) May 17, 2012 - New Delhi, India -- Even ten days after the strike by the Air India's pilots began there appears to be no resolution in sight. With civil aviation minister Ajit Singh unwilling to adopt a more flexible approach to enable initiation of a dialogue for breaking the impasse, one wonders how long will the agitation go on, and how much more will the national carrier and its passengers suffer due to the strike?

While the Indian Pilots Guild representing the agitating pilots has rightly invited criticism from one and all for having resorted to a flash strike inconveniencing passengers for no justifiable reason, the time has perhaps come to move ahead and for someone to take the initiative to resolve the issue. It is unfortunate that the 'no talk until pilots get back to work' stance has been taken by the Minister of civil aviation, Ajit Singh, instead of the AI management, which has been conspicuous by its silence because the minister should in all fairness be seen as neutral and have his doors kept open to agitators for them to express their concerns which he is free to reject if there is no merit - but only after hearing them.

It may just be that the management's actions of not conceding the demands of the pilots, issuing dismissal orders on a scale hitherto unseen, or taking the unprecedented step of asking DGCA to annul licences of IPG office bearers are right from the airline's perspective because the airline can't afford disruption in its services. But in terms of natural justice, the pilots still ought to have had a forum for redressal of their grievances available to them. With the minister having publicly identified himself with the management and endorsed the management's decisions, even the Secretary, Civil Aviation, can't take a different line in the circumstances for breaking the deadlock.

How does the strike then gets withdrawn and normalcy restored? IPG should unilaterally withdraw it would be the Ministry's and AI management's contention. Is such a retreat possible when 71 pilots have been dismissed? The management needs to take a more pragmatic view in the current scenario and a consistent view at all times whenever flights are disrupted by any union. It is this differing response to similar situations that had perhaps made several MPs, participating in the debate in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, speak about discrimination and bias. If such a perception has been carried to the MPs to make them voice their concern, it needs to be taken note of and not left unaddressed because harmony in the airline can never be brought about unless the top management is perceived to be fair and impartial.

Even as the financial loss caused by the strike gets evaluated on a daily basis, the questions relating to: why the pilots went on strike, was the strike avoidable, who precipitated the issues, will also have to be answered satisfactorily as Air India can simply not afford strikes at this critical juncture when the Centre is infusing funds to help it survive. In the vitiated environment that Air India currently is in, Ajit Singh can certainly summon senior management personnel of erstwhile Air India to hear them for their take even if he has to continue with his stance of 'no talk until pilots get back to work' to know if the real issues at stake are any different from what he has been told by the present management. Or he can simply get Intelligence agencies which will gather information to give him credible feedback on the ground realities that exist.
Let not politics, but Air India's interests prevail.
jitendrabhargava123.blogspot.com

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