Striking AI pilots say their representative, V K Bhalla, did not inform them before calling off strike and still refuses to explain
Striking AI pilots say their representative, V K Bhalla, did not inform them before calling off strike and still refuses to explainThe agitating executive pilots in Air India called off their four-day-old strike yesterday. The protest of 250 captains started on Saturday after the airline's proposal to cut incentives by 50 per cent.
The pilots of the public undertaking, however say, they were not informed before Captain VK Bhalla, their representative, made the announcement calling off the strike.
"We were not informed that the strike was being called off suddenly. We were waiting for an official confirmation from the Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.
We will not take action any one because we were not informed. We are waiting for the conditions to get normal," said a pilot, on conditions of anonymity.
Capt Bhalla said, "We called off the strike as soon as we received the official communication from the aviation minister yesterday morning.
The minister has assured us that our grievances would be looked into seriously. I am appealing to all the agitating pilots to resume duty."
Bhalla refused to elaborate why he did not take other agitating pilots into confidence before making the announcement.
u00a0
Jitendra Bhargava, the official spokesperson of Air India said he expects all flights to resume in the days to come.
"Our main aim is to win our passengers back. Pilots who reported sick will take a few days to resume work as they have to undergo certain procedures," Bhargava said.
Air strikesSept 26- 30: Around 250 Air India pilots went on strike to protest the management's decision to cut pay incentives to save costs. More than 200 flights had to be cancelled.
Sept 8- 13: More than 750 Jet Airways pilots went on mass leave to protest the management's decision to sack four pilots for trying to get the recognition for their newly formed union.
During the stand-off, 198 flights were cancelled.
Rs 6,000 What Captain V K Bhalla, the representative of agitating pilots, said he got as salary for August
u00a0
Rs 3.5 lakhBhalla's average take home salary per month according to AI spokesperson Jitendra Bhargava
