Indefinite strike by IA employees

With negotiations between the Indian Airlines (IA) management and the Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) making no headway, the union has called for an "indefinite'' strike from tonight across the country.

Talks between the IA, the ACEU and the chief labour commissioner held today failed. Union leaders said the management did not agree to their demand for "career progression", at par with their counterparts in Air India.

The union also said its members had not been given any promotions since 1997. ACEU has over 13,000 IA employees as its members.

In an earlier meeting, the management had agreed to give the employees their arrears from 2000, instead of 1997, as demanded by the union.

The union had agreed to the management formula which required IA to fork out Rs 300 crore.

ACEU president J K Badola said: "The talks have failed and we are going on an indefinite strike from tonight. Instead of offering us better career prospects, the management has put in additional conditions: an increase in working hours from from 44 hours to 48 hours a week, and a decrease in the number of holidays in a year from 15 to 12."

The IA management said the union had not given them any notice for a strike.

Said a senior IA executive: "The talks today were inconclusive and the chief labour commissioner will indicate a new date. We have not received any official communication from the union of a strike and going for a strike would be illegal as the matter is still with the chief labour commissioner."

Airport officials however said a strike could lead to delays in flights and chaos in the airport. They added that there was no danger of flights being cancelled en masse as pilots, engineers and management staff were not part of the union.