VASCO: All 107 loaders under contract for Indigo Airlines who were on strike since Monday demanding an increase in salary called off their strike on Tuesday after the intervention of Power Minister Milind Naik. J P Aviation Private Limited, that provides loader services to Indigo Airlines, agreed to increase their salary after negotiations.
According to the information, a few loaders met Naik on Tuesday requesting him to intervene in the matter, after which a joint meeting was called with officials of J P Aviation and an amicable solution arrived at.
The workers were demanding a salary hike and were adamant that until the company pays them Rs 13,000 per month, up from the present Rs 8000 they would not return to work. It was agreed that the company would pay a consolidated salary of Rs 11,000 per month.
In another meeting, Naik had with contract workers and officers of Western India Shipyard Limited (WISL) on Tuesday, he assured the aggrieved workers and officer rank staff to seek the intervention of Chief Minister Laxmikant Parksekar to resolve the issue of pending salary.
The workers informed Naik that despite repeated requests to disburse their pending salaries of several months, their pleas fell on deaf ears. They claimed that they have been facing difficult times as the Goa Trade and Commerce Workers Union recently communicated to them that the union would not support the WISL workers in any of their issues in future.
Naik assured the workers that he would speak to the Chief Minister asking him to call the concerned WISL officials to resolve the issue permanently. “Although I cannot directly interfere with the affairs of private companies, the government has power to call the WISL management and thus I will request the Chief Minister to call the concerned officials of WISL and see to it that the issue is bought to its logical conclusion,” Naik said.
According to WISL contract workers and officer rank staff, the company has not disbursed their salary for several months, and a few did not receive their salaries for nine months.
