Airport pvtisation: CLC asks union not to strike work on Wed

The Chief Labour Commissioner today asked the airports employees union not to strike work on Wednesday while urging the government to relook into its airports privatisation plan.
The government plans to handover the management, operations and development of Airports Authority of India (AAI) run Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports to private corporates, a move that is being resisted by the unions on the ground that it would lead to job losses and also further reduction on the AAI's revenue.
The Union, which is holding a day-long dharna at Jantar Mantar here tomorrow as part of the long-drawn agitation plan against the privatisation, had last month given a strike call for March 11.

The CLC earlier held a two-hour long conciliatory meeting with the representatives of the Civil Aviation Ministry, the AAI management and its employees union, AAIEU, which has given a strike call to protest the government's plans to handover four more airports to private companies.
"We have suggested to the government to re-examine its (privatisation) plan including the Request for Qualification (RFQ) documents in view of the union's opposition. At the same time, the union has also been adviced not to go ahead with the strike call on March 11," sources privy to the information told PTI.
The CLC has fixed March 26 as the next date of meeting, they said, adding, the union has informed it will consult on the issue with its members before taking a final call on the advice.

The ministry was represented by a director-level official while AAI executive director and general manager for human resources put across the management viewpoint on the issue during the meeting.
The AAIEU was represented by its General Secretary Balraj Singh Ahlawat and joint general secretary Stanley Sampath Kumar at the meeting with the CLC.
While opposing the move, the union apprehends that prospective operators would not absorb all the employees post- privatisation which could lead to large scale retrenchment.