In a bid to avert the strike called by the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC), Mr S.K. Mukhopadhyay, held talks with the Association on Tuesday.

The CLC and ICPA members were engaged in talks since morning and were still going on till late evening.

However, indications were that the strike could be called off by Air India pilots. The pilots had threatened to go on strike from March 9. “Talks are on with the CLC. We are trying to avoid the strike. We just want parity in working conditions with the erstwhile Air India pilots,” the ICPA General Secretary, Mr Rishab Kapoor, said after the first round of talks.

The meeting, being seen as a reconciliatory one to hold off the strike, was also attended by the top management of Air India. If a suitable solution is not arrived at, this would result in inconvenience to passengers as a result of flight cancellations.

The ICPA, which represents around 800 pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines, had served a 14-day strike notice, under Section 22 of the Industrial Disputes Act to Air India's Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Arvind Jadhav. They charged the management with failure to address their grievances and violation of agreements on issues such as pay parity and better working conditions.

‘Unfair' treatment

The ICPA has alleged that the national carrier has been treating the Indian pilots unfairly. The pilots pointed out the differences in pays and perks offered to the expatriate pilots of Air India.

The pilots are also protesting the various delays in payment of salaries, the pilots allege that the Memorandum of Settlement signed in November 2009 had been violated and said that the management failed to implement the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.

Earlier, after a meeting with the pilots, Mr Vayalar Ravi, Civil Aviation Minister had announced setting up a three-member committee to consider the demands of the agitating AI pilots.

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