Corruption crusade merely an eyewash

ICPA letter reveals how pilots used corruption as a tool to arm-twist the management into accepting their demands

THE Air India pilots' much-hyped crusade against corruption may be merely an eyewash. It's apparently a handy tool that has helped them "arm-twist" the national carrier's top management into succumbing to their demands at the earliest.

An Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) letter, dated May 11, 2011 addressed to the Union civil aviation minister, reveals how the pilots "misuse" the issue of corruption to force the management into accepting their demands.

"We regret to inform you that despite explicit agreement in writing that all erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots terminations/suspensions would be revoked with immediate effect as soon as the strike was withdrawn, the management of Air India is yet to revoke the terminations/suspensions of all the nine pilots.
u00a0
This is the reason ICPA had asked for ouster of CMD Arvind Jadhav, as his presence at the helm of affairs is a sure recipe for disaster for industrial relations and the very future of our beloved national carrier," reads the letter from ICPA General Secretary (Copy of letter with MiD Day).

The letter further states, "We appeal to you to protect the reputation of the Government of India and not allow Jadhav to put it into disrepute."
u00a0
And Air India top management, which was not showing interest in reinstating the pilots initially, bowed down once the pilots started talking about corruption.

According to the recent agreement between the pilots and the management, all the suspensions and the termination of the pilots during the strike were supposed to get revoked with immediate effect. But the Air India management only withdrew the suspension and termination on the evening of May 11.

"The management only acted after receiving our letter in the morning of May 11 and all the suspensions and terminations were revoked by the evening," said an ICPA spokesperson.

The Union civil aviation secretary Naseem Zaidi too agreed about the delay in revoking the suspension and termination of pilots, "Yes, it was delayed. I don't know for what reasons but the issue has been sorted out and all the suspensions and terminations have been revoked."

Despite several attempts to contact Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav and chief information officer Kamaljit Rattan, they remained unavailable for comments.

Fact sheet
During their ten-day strike recently, the Air India pilots shouted slogans and also came on the streets and even joined hands with Anna Hazare led anti-corruption campaign, claiming to expose irregularities in the national carrier.

In all the press statement the pilots' body clearly mentioned that they want to expose irregularities in Air India but when the management and the aviation ministry officials sat with them for negotiation, not a single issue of corruption was discussed.

The final minutes (Copy with MiD DAY) was prepared without a single mention of corruption and the strike was called off.

Excerpts from the agreed minutes of the meeting held between pilots and the management on Day 6 of the strike:
1. The strike be called off immediately from 2200 hours of May 6, 2011.
2. Hereafter, it is also assured that there will be
no industrial action by
the ICPA until the implementation of Justice Dharmadhikari Committee recommendations.
3. Upon withdrawal of the strike, the management of Air India shall revoke orders regarding termination/suspensions of erstwhile pilots immediately.