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New Delhi:
Over 200 flights were cancelled on Thursday on Day 3 of the Jet Airlines pilots' strike. The pilots and management of the airline were supposed to meet with the Labour Commissioner in Delhi, but the pilots dropped out.
With no breakthrough in sight, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inquired about the strike, asking the civil aviation minister how bad the situation is for passengers.
Pilots say they will not return to work till Jet takes back four pilots who were recently sacked. Two of those pilots were allegedly fired for helping to set up a new pilot union, The National Aviators Guild (NAG). That union has asked the Madras High Court to stop Jet from hiring foreign pilots, something the management had outlined as a back-up plan for the nearly 400 pilots who've called in sick since Tuesday. The court has asked Jet and the government to explain its stand on this issue.
The Jet crisis is already being heard by the Bombay High Court. The management has asked the court to declare the strike illegal, and the court ordered pilots to get back to work, an order the pilots have defied.
On Thursday, Jet's ground staff also appealed publicly to the pilots to get back to work. Girish Kaushik, President of the NAG says, "Bring the four boys back and we will fly. That's all we want. Everyone is against us...all these laws...think they will put TADA on us next!"
The pilots claim they will attend a mediation session on Friday with the Labour Commissioner and the airline's executives.
With no breakthrough in sight, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inquired about the strike, asking the civil aviation minister how bad the situation is for passengers.
Pilots say they will not return to work till Jet takes back four pilots who were recently sacked. Two of those pilots were allegedly fired for helping to set up a new pilot union, The National Aviators Guild (NAG). That union has asked the Madras High Court to stop Jet from hiring foreign pilots, something the management had outlined as a back-up plan for the nearly 400 pilots who've called in sick since Tuesday. The court has asked Jet and the government to explain its stand on this issue.
The Jet crisis is already being heard by the Bombay High Court. The management has asked the court to declare the strike illegal, and the court ordered pilots to get back to work, an order the pilots have defied.
On Thursday, Jet's ground staff also appealed publicly to the pilots to get back to work. Girish Kaushik, President of the NAG says, "Bring the four boys back and we will fly. That's all we want. Everyone is against us...all these laws...think they will put TADA on us next!"
The pilots claim they will attend a mediation session on Friday with the Labour Commissioner and the airline's executives.
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