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The five-day-old strike by Jet Airways pilots ended on Saturday night as the airline management and the agitators reached a settlement under which the four sacked pilots would be reinstated and a consultative group made up of the two sides formed to resolve all issues.
A formal announcement to this effect was made by the Jet Airways management on Sunday afternoon in a press conference in Mumbai. The airline said it was happy that the strike was over and apologized to its customers who had to suffer due to the strike.
The beleaguered airline resumed operations on Sunday with 37 flights after a crippling five-day strike was called off by its protesting pilots after marathon talks ended the deadlock.
The agitating Jet Airways pilots decided to resume duty after seven hours of talks with the senior management.
Under the agreement, the National Aviators' Guild (NAG), the union of the pilots, decided to join duty with immediate effect.
The NAG, they said, would be dissolved and a committee to look into the coordination between the pilots and the management would be formed. The committee would work under the central labour commissioner. Dissolution of the NAG was one of the main demands of the airline's management.
Operations to resume immediately
Jet Airways Executive Director Saroj Dutta said flight operations of the airline on international routes would resume immediately while the domestic services would normalise by noon on Sunday.
The breakthrough in the impasse between the pilots, who had begun their agitation on Tuesday protesting the sacking of their colleagues, came after a marathon meeting here lasting more than ten hours.
Jet Airways executive director Saroj Dutta said flight operations of the airline on international routes would resume immediately while the domestic services would normalise by noon on Sunday.
Announcing the settlement at a news conference, the pilots union National Aviators Guild leader Sam Thomas, flanked by Jet Airways executive director Saroj Dutta and NAG president Girish Kaushik, said it had been agreed that the four sacked pilots would be reinstated with immediate effect.
Consultative group
A consultative group would be set up comprising the Jet CEO Hafiz Ali, two directors of the airlines, two representatives of flight operations and five pilots to continue the process of dialogue on all outstanding issues as well those which will come up.
Asked about losses suffered by the airline during the five days of the agitation, Dutta said no estimates had been done. However, Jet's daily revenue of eight million dollars "had dropped dramatically" and the number of passengers came down from 23,000 per day to 7,500.
On the contentious issue of the pilots' right to form a union, Kaushik said in reply to a question that there was no question of dissolving the NAG which is already a registered body.
The Registrar of Trade Unions is reviewing the NAG's registration and if the decision goes against the pilots, they would not pursue it.
"If there is discrepancy, it is left to the Registrar or the law of the land", Kaushik said and Thomas added, "We will not pursue the matter afresh."
The problems between the two sides would be resolve through the consultative group while the Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots, formed about a decade ago, would address the welfare issues, the two NAG leaders said.
While all the four dismissed pilots would be taken back, no punitive action against any one who participated in the agitation.
100 pilots report for duty
Nearly 100 of the 400 agitating pilots of Jet Airways reported for duty on Sunday as the airlines said that its flight operations will return to normalcy soon.
"We are operating 172 domestic and 72 international flights. So far, 98 pilots have already reported fit. The operation is expected to return to normal soon," a Jet Airways spokesperson said.
The airline will initially schedule its operations on a 12-hour basis and will extend it subsequently after more flights are added into operations, he said.
The pilots' union National Aviators Guild (NAG) ended its five-day long agitation after a nine-hour-long meeting with the management in Mumbai last night.
The two sides agreed that the four sacked pilots will be reinstated and a consultative group be made to resolve all issues.
Jet management, pilots' marathon talks
Earlier on Saturday evening, after a meeting with the Jet Airways management led by Executive Director Saroj Datta in Hotel Athithi in Mumbai, NAG President Girish Kaushik and the chief negotiator for the pilots had said: "I would pray to God that we start flying today itself."
There were indications that the management had softened its stance in the confrontation. At the time, the management had told the pilots that it will not insist on disbanding their union, though it wants them to consider the wisdom of a union. In the past, it has insisted on the abolishment of the union as a precondition for talks. "The management has not insisted on disbanding the union but has some reservation on what the union could mean for the organisation," said Kaushik.
On Saturday, nine-hour-long negotiations between the management of Jet Airways and the pilots of NAG ended in a deadlock with the management agreeing to reinstate the four sacked pilots but with a stiff rider: Dissolve the union and form an association. The condition put forward by the management was not acceptable to the pilots.
5-day long strike hits passengers
Even as members of the pilots' union went into a huddle to discuss the offer late on Saturday evening, the airline, which operates 365 domestic and 74 international flights daily, was forced to cancel over 281 flights on Saturday, including 21 international flights.
On Thursday, a draft was worked out late night between Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, representatives of the pilots and Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal in which the management agreed to reinstate the sacked pilots.
It all started when the airline management terminated the services of two pilots -- Sam Thomas and D Balaraman -- allegedly for forming a union. Jet pilots, who earlier had an association, formed a union, NAG. They alleged that the airline management changed some clauses in their contracts.
The union was registered on July 21 and the pilots were terminated on July 31. The pilots then tried to negotiate with the management but when nothing worked out they gave an indefinite strike call from September 7, which was later called off since the conciliatory proceedings were on with the labour commissioner. But the pilots went on mass sick leave which badly disturbed the operations of Jet.