The Hindu Business Line : Indian strike called off; full schedule from today

New Delhi June 14 The state-owned airline Indian will operate all its scheduled flights from Friday after the largest union the Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) called off its two-day flash strike late Thursday afternoon. The agitation had affected the airlines' normal operations with Indian cancelling 62 of the 192 flights it was scheduled to operate on Wednesday.

The strike was called off after ACEU leaders met with a Government delegation headed by the Secretary Civil Aviation, Mr Ashok Chawla.

Agreement

"The employees have agreed to accept wage arrears of Rs 267 crore. We have also agreed to a new career progression plan. The arrears will be paid to the employees over 18 months. Indian will have to find resources to meet the expenditure," Mr Chawla said.

The agreement is likely to see each ACEU member receiving between Rs 80,000 and Rs 1,50,000 as wage arrears, airline officials said.

The ACEU General Secretary, Mr J.K. Badola, said that the strike was called off after the Secretary was able to sort out "differences of opinion that had arisen between the management and union."

The talks between the Government delegation and ACEU were held after the strike had been declared illegal by the Delhi High Court and Chief Labour Commissioner late on Wednesday night.

An airline spokesman said the flights already cancelled for Thursday would not operate despite the strike being called off. To ease passenger problems, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) requested other domestic airlines to carry IA passengers.

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