BackAir India unions tell management not to interrupt rest period of pilots
In their letter, the unions stated that weekly offs and rest periods of pilots were being Interrupted 'with incessant phone calls and emails to undertake COVID tests or accept changes to their printed program'
PremiumNew Delhi: Air India's pilot unions, Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), which last week rejected a partial roll back of their salary-cuts, on Monday informed the airline's management that the pilots wouldn't accept last moment changes in their flight duties that could impact their rest period.
"We will henceforth not be able to accept any change in the Weekly off once it is printed on CMS Roster. We are directing our members accordingly to 'Maintain CMS Printed Off’s", both unions wrote in a joint letter to the airline's director (operations), Captain RS Sandhu.
In their letter, the unions stated that weekly offs and rest periods of pilots were being Interrupted 'with incessant phone calls and emails to undertake COVID tests or accept changes to their printed program.'
"We are already working under strenuous conditions and hard pressed to fulfil our financial responsibility to our families keeping them safe from the COVID-19 virus. It is not unreasonable to expect that the company at least provides us a reliable schedule around which we can plan our lives, something that every other airline can manage," the unions said in the letter.
A copy of the letter has been reviewed by Mint.
"We request you to kindly inform the concerned departments not to disturb pilots during their weekly off and Rest Period. Further, we are no longer in a position to keep compensating with deteriorating working conditions," the unions added in the letter.
According to rules laid down by the Indian aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), airlines are mandatorily supposed to maintain flight duty time limitation (FDTL) and rest timings for pilots and flight attendants to avoid any safety-related mishaps.
IPG and ICPA had last week in a letter to the airline's chairman and managing director Rajiv Bansal stated that they would be forced to resort to calling in strikes if the issue was not addressed, which included pay cut imposed on pilots due to the covid-19 pandemic, since April 2020, amounting to a gross reduction of upto 58% of their salaries.
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