Section of Air India pilots on 'go slow' protest; some flights delayed

New Delhi: Labour unrest hit the loss-making Air India again on Friday after a section of its commanders went on a "go slow" protest against a government notification removing airlines' commanders from the workmen category, resulting in delay in its flight operations.

A total of 13 flights eight from Mumbai and five from Delhi were delayed by up to two hours till evening due to the protest, which began from early morning, official sources said.

"A section of Air India commanders is observing a go-slow since this morning. As a result of their protest, some 13 flights could not take off or land on scheduled time," a source said.

Of these, eight were from Mumbai while the rest five from New Delhi, the sources said adding the average delay was between 1-2 hours. Air India, however, said that of the total nearly 300 flights, which are operated by the carrier per day, only three flights were cancelled due to the non-reporting of the commanders.

"Out of the total nearly 300 flights operated so far only three flights were delayed due to non-reporting of crew on time. All our flights are operating smoothly as per schedule," an Air India official said.

The Civil Aviation Ministry had earlier asked the Labour Ministry to remove pilots and engineers from the workmen category to prevent them from going on strike. In the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, a non-workman is defined as an employee who is mainly in managerial or administrative capacity, or who draws wages exceeding Rs

10,000 per month.

Besides, armed forces and police personnel have also been kept out of the workmen category as they are governed by different laws.

"A clarification has been given by the Ministry of Labour and Employment regarding differentiation on the categories of pilots in Air India, i.e., between a pilot in command and a co-pilot," Air India said in a notification issued on Thursday.

"Ministry of Labour and Employment has, after examination, in light of the duties and responsibility of PIC (Pilots-in- Command) in Air India, as referred under rule 141 of Aircraft @1934 and rules made thereafter observed that the duties and responsibilities of PIC are of the managerial and administrative nature which may not fall in the definition of the workman under section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947," the notification stated.