New Delhi, June 14
The 13,000 agitating employees of ‘Indian’ called off their strike this afternoon following an agreement with the management over wages, career progression and arrears. With this, the services are expected to return to normal by tomorrow.
The chief labour commissioner had declared the strike illegal yesterday and Delhi High Court had asked the protesting employees to return to work. However, till an agreement was reached today, the services remained affected as the employees stuck to their ground. The break came after a three-hour meeting during which the management and the employees’ union reached an agreement. After the meeting, civil aviation secretary Ashok Chawla announced that the strike had been called off.
The management of Indian and the employees’ union were both under tremendous public pressure to reach an agreement as the strike progressed through the second day.
Yesterday, more than 90 flights of airlines were cancelled all over the country as a result of the flash strike called by the Air Corporation Employees' Union (ACEU) on Tuesday night after it claimed that the talks with the management had failed.
However, yesterday civil aviation minister Praful Patel called the strike illegal and pointed that the talks were still underway when the employees decided to go on a strike. He also warned the employees of a lockout before the chief labour commissioner declared the strike illegal late at night.
Reports suggested that the employees’ union today held amicable talks with the Indian management, which included chairman and managing director Vishwapati Trivedi and the director (Personnel).
Reports also indicated that following the agreement reached today, the management and the employees’ union were expected to sign the agreement papers in front of the chief labour commissioner tomorrow or on Saturday.
Following the agreement, ACEU general secretary J K Badola said all the demands of the union had been met. ACEU leaders said the talks were fruitful. “We have called off the strike following assurances by the ministry and the management,” Badola said.
Chawla said the government has agreed to release wage arrears
of Rs 267 crore to be paid in 18 months. “Minor issues regarding career progression have also been settled,” he said.
He said the chief labour commissioner would look into the matter of the suspended employees. The flight operations would normalize within a few hours, he added.
Badola said it has been agreed that the arrears would be cleared on or before December 31, 2008.
The management had wanted to stagger the release of arrears over five years. “The matter was stuck on the issue of releasing the wage arrears. Also, with the agreement on time-bound promotions, the stagnation will end,” Badola said.
Earlier, the situation remained critical at the metro airports where the employees resorted to roadblocks and sloganeering.
