The agitating pilots of Air India today received a boost with the unionised section of their colleagues supporting them, holding the Air India management responsible for passively promoting disparity and mismanagement.

The Indian Pilots Guild, the non-executive pilots union of Air India has also decided to lend its muscle to the upcoming agitation.

Speaking exclusively to Governance Now the Indian Commercial Pilots Asociation (ICPA) secretary captain Rishabh Kapoor said, “we had a telephonic conversation with IPG and they have said that they are going to support us in our fight for equality.”

The ICPA has started sending text messages to all its members to be prepared to go for a strike from 00:00 hrs of March 16.

Kapoor also said, “it seems as if the strike is inevitable as we see no positive talks coming from the management side. Chairman Arvind Jadhav is showing his audacity by not only disrespecting the chief labour commissioners orders but also paying no attention to what the minister has asked to do.”

“In spite of minister's interventions things do not look favourable. We have got no intimation from the management side,” he added.

After a marathon ten-hour meeting between the Indian Commercial Pilot Association (ICPA), Air India management and the chief labour commissioner, the pilots' representative body had agreed to defer its planned strike to March 15.

Following assurances from civil aviation minister the ICPA had decided to defer the strike till March 15 which was earlier scheduled for March 9. The ICPA is demanding for better working conditions and pay parity for the pilots of the erstwhile Indian Ailrlines (now merged with Air India) with the Air India pilots.