By IANS
Mumbai/New Delhi : Airport employees called off their indefinite strike late Monday evening after the government said it will address their demands that include pay hikes, better working conditions and stopping privatisation of airports.
“The government has agreed on all our demands. By March 10, all are demands and problems related to job assurance will be finalised,” national assistant general secretary of Airports Authority Employees Union (AAEU) Dilip Gujjar told IANS in Mumbai Monday.
The decision to defer the strike was taken after the AAEU’s almost four-hour meeting with the civil aviation secretary, top ministry officials and representatives from Airports Authority of India (AAI).
An estimated 18,000 employees of the AAI working at 135 airports across the country were threatening an indefinite strike from Monday midnight.
“Our agitation is also in protest over the ongoing privatisation of airports by the AAI,” Gujjar earlier said.
Officials at the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), the private sector consortium that operates the airport in the national capital, said they were ready with contingency plans if there was a strike.
Mumbai airport, the only other airport that is currently under private management, also made similar arrangements.
The employees’ union was also protesting the development of new airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore by private players, which would eventually result in the closure of existing ones run by AAI.
“In Delhi and Mumbai, where government has privatised the airports, employees are being compelled to join the private consortium. This is not acceptable to us,” Gujjar said.
Domestic carriers ferry 43.29 million passengers per annum, of which Delhi and Mumbai account for the maximum share of around 60 percent among all airports in the country.