In election season, party-affiliated unions get louder

Airports' and airlines' managements are facing vociferous activity by employees' unions affiliated to political parties, seeking to garner every inch of support from any quarter.

Certain political parties have penetrated the sector and have wielded their strength to fulfill the employees' demands. Perhaps, the foremost among them are the Shiv Sena (SS) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).

According to sources in the Airports Authority of India (AAI), a few weeks ago, an MNS leader warned top AAI officials of serious consequences if they did not waive off the penalty imposed on one hundred employees who continued to occupy government accommodation after joining the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL).

"The aim is to please the employees during the election season. And they will use threats and foul language to force their point of view on all issues," said a senior AAI official.

In one instance, a senior MIAL official was reportedly threatened and assaulted by MNS activists over a functional matter. "The matter was sorted out following the intervention of top leaders of the party," a MIAL source said. The source suggested that some of the employees who had migrated from AAI despised the work efficiency of the private sector.

Recently, Shiv Sena members held a rally at the domestic airport in support of some Air India employees who had been suspended.

"The leaders on the dais threatened 'Sena style action' if the workers were not taken back. They also recollected a protest in which a top AI official was assaulted and his face blackened when he did not give in to their demands," an Air India official said.

The official expected to see such strident activity increase. "We believe that these activities will increase till the elections are over," he said.