Staff of Indian airlines to go on relay hunger strike

NEW DELHI: Miffed over the "delay" in implementation of their demands, employees of state-owned carrier Indian Airlines on Tuesday said they would go on a hunger strike on Wednesday followed by a three-day relay fast from December 30.

Air Corporations Employees Union (ACEU) has been compelled to go on agitation since the management is not arriving at an amicable settlement, the union said in a statement.

It has been demanding higher wages and assured career progression.

"On wage revision and career progression, everything has been negotiated and settled, but the management is unnecessarily causing delay," the ACEU had said in a circular to its regional affiliates a week ago.

The employees would launch lunch-hour demonstrations, wear black badges and carry out relay hunger strikes in all regions, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, till January 1, 2007, when further action programme would be chalked out.

Asserting that the responsibility of any inconvenience to the passengers would lie with the Indian management, ACEU General Secretary Arun Kumar alleged that the management had "offered to pay us ad hoc relief but reversed their stand thereafter".

He said wage revision has been pending since January 1997, and the management was showing a "non-serious attitude towards settling our demands".

Kumar asked all members across the country to follow the directive and carry out the agitation as planned.