Even as the labour ministry gave an in-principle approval to the civil aviation ministry's proposal to classify pilots as executives instead of workmen, the pilots' unions said they would respond strongly to the move.

Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma's approval to the proposal to take out pilots from the purview of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 means that they will be re-classified under the officer and manager category rather than as workmen. This implies pilots cannot form unions or go on strikes.

Reacting to the issue, the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association, the pilots' union of Indian Airlines, said the civil aviation ministry's proposal was unjustified. ICPA president Captain VK Bhalla said: "We condemn the move and will protest against it. This is just a ploy to put the blame for the losses of the government-owned airlines on us."

He added that unlike private carriers the pilots of the two national airlines had done extra duty during the Gulf wars, the Kargil war and the Bhuj earthquake. Indian Airlines' pilots had undertaken extra flight hours during the SARS scare.

Under the IDA there is no wage limit for classifying any category of workers as workmen.

However, labour ministry officials said pilots did not qualify as workmen on account of the fact that their high salaries allowed them to make provisions for their own social security.

The emoluments of a junior pilot is about Rs 100,000 per month.

Sources in the civil aviation ministry said the proposal to move the pilots from the IDA had gained momentum after the Indian Pilots' Guild (the pilots' union of Air-India) refused to operate during the SARS crisis.

The agitation had been called illegal by the labour ministry and IPG had been de-recognised by Air-India. No new union has been recognised as yet.

Pointing out another dichotomy, ministry sources added that though the pilots were categorised as workmen, on flight they assume charge of a commanding officer and give orders to even executive-ranked cabin crew.

Industry experts said globally as most airlines are private enterprises the regulations about forming unions and striking work are extremely stringent. The situation is different for state-owned carriers such as Air France.