Citu firm on airport strike

Calcutta: The “indefinite” nationwide strike by airport staff from February 26 threatens to disrupt flights and is sure to bring passenger services to a halt. Also, it ties up civil aviation minister Praful Patel on his daughter’s wedding day in Udaipur.
Fliers in Calcutta, and the rest of the country, are pinning their last hopes on Monday’s meeting between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the employees’ union in Delhi.
“If the AAI does not bend, the strike is inevitable,” asserted Shyamal Chakraborty, the state chief of Citu, which is backing the shutdown. The strike has been called to protest the AAI’s decision to close down the Hyderabad and Bangalore airports to make way for private greenfield projects and press for financial demands of the employees.
If the flights operate at all — the airlines said they would stick to schedule — fliers at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport will have to cope up with dirty terminals, filthy toilets and lack of basic facilities, like drinking water and air-conditioning. The airport authorities said they were taking measures to ensure normal operations.
25/02/08 The Telegraph

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Categories: airports Feb 2008