Welcoming the Civil Aviation Minister’s move to convene a meeting of all recognised Air India unions next week to discuss labour issues, the striking Indian Pilots Guild today said they will attend the meeting if invited.

“We will certainly attend the meeting called by the Minister. However, we are yet to receive any formal communication in this regard,” joint secretary and spokesperson of the now de-recoginsed IPG, Mr Tauseef Mukkadam, said.

However, it is not clear whether the IPG will be invited for the meeting in the wake of its de-recognition by the Air India management last week following its decision to go on strike without serving the mandatory 14-day notice.

On whether they are contemplating to call off the 10-day-old agitation in view of the fresh offer of talks by the Government, Mr Mukkadam said there is no such move in the offing as of now.

“A meeting of the unions and our agitation are two different issues. How can we go back to work when 71 of our pilots are sacked by the management?” he asked.

Earlier in the day, the Minister said he will convene a meeting of all the recognised Air India unions next week to discuss the issues relating to career progression and pay-scales, as also the Dharmadhikari committee report on HR integration.

“I am convening a meeting of all the recognised trade unions of Air India next week to discuss the career progression issues, including promotions also,” Mr Singh told reporters in the Capital this morning.

The struggling national carrier has 13 recognised unions, representing 28,000 of its employees. Following the strike by the IPG, its recognition was terminated nine days ago.

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