Air India pilots’ union to extend voting for secret ballot on strike

Mumbai: One of state-run Air India Ltd’s pilot unions on Wednesday has extended the date to conduct a secret ballot on whether to declare a strike or not.

The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) had told its members that “the central executive committee is of the strong judgement to declare strike”, adding that “a secret ballot is called for this purpose from 31 August to 6 September for a mandate as the Constitution of ICPA”.

“The voting on secret ballot has been extended till 9 September as few of our pilots were not able to vote due to long-haul flights,” said one of the pilots representing ICPA, requesting anonymity.

The ICPA, comprising 660 members, also wrote a letter to this effect on Monday.

“We had received many requests from members to extend the dates for secret ballot voting since they were unable to cast their vote due to the fight schedules and ICPA office timings,” T. Praveen Keerthi, general secretary, wrote in a letter to members.

The union of the loss-making airline is protesting a notification issued by Air India, India’s oldest airline, removing pilots from the workman category.

On 20 August, Air India issued a notification citing a clarification by the ministry of labour and employment, saying the role of the pilot in command at Air India is of a managerial and administrative nature and so may not fall under the definition of workmen.

The notification bars commanders working with the airline from being a part of any union and effectively takes away their rights to go on strikes.

The imminent threat for a potential strike comes a week after Ashwani Lohani took over as chairman and managing director of the national flag airline for three years.

The debt-laden airline is surviving on a Rs.30,000 crore government bailout. The airline, with a total debt of Rs.40,000 crore as on 31 March, is expected to turn around only by 2018-19.

In June, the aviation ministry asked merchant banker SBI Capital Markets Ltd to review the turnaround plan of the loss-making airline in the backdrop of changes in the operating environment and increased competition.

Air India is expected to post a loss of Rs.3,900 crore for the year ended 31 March 2014, numbers for which have not been disclosed. It posted a loss of Rs.5,100 crore in 2012-13 and a loss of Rs.7,100 crore in the preceding fiscal year.

Air India flies to an international network of 34 destinations across the US, Europe, Far East and Southeast Asia and the Gulf.

The airline’s domestic network covers 50 destinations, including far-flung areas of the northeast, Ladakh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.