Airport staffers' strike from today

NAGPUR: Be prepared to face inconvenience if you are scheduled to fly from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport of the city in the next few days. A majority of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) staffers, who at present are working under the joint venture company Mihan India Private Limited (MIPL), will go on indefinite 'pen down' and 'tool down' strike from January 29.

"All employees (221) attached with fire, engineering, civil, administration and maintenance departments at Nagpur airport, excluding 120 staffers from communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) and area traffic management (ATM), working under the newly-formed MIPL will join the strike," said JJ Goswami, secretary of Airport Authority of Employees Union.

The employees have decided to go on strike as both AAI and the MIPL have failed to sort out the issue as to who will pay their salaries.

Goswami said, "Just three months back, on August 6, 2009, Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited (MADC) and AAI had announced the signing of an 'agreement of transfer' that effectively gave control of the city airport to MIPL. Since then, all staffers, except the 120 staffers from communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) and area traffic management (ATM), were working under the newly-formed MIPL.

As per the agreement, the salaries of all staffers were to be borne by MIPL. The agreement was for five years and at the end of this period, MIPL is to absorb all of the staffers.

As per the agreement, all infrastructure facilities, present and future, related to CNS/ATM operations were to remain with AAI.

The AII, which paid the salaries of the staffers till last month, has now decided to make payment of ATM+CNS staff only and not the remaining 221 employees. On the other hand, the MIPL is not ready to take the responsibility saying it is ready to pay salaries to fire staff and not others.

"To protest such strategy because of which employees are suffering mentally and moraly, we have decided to go on indefinite strike from Friday," Goswami added.
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