Due to the extended closure of international and domestic flights during the Covid-19 period, the revenue of state airlines Biman Bangladesh also declined drastically. Given the circumstances, the salaries and benefits of the pilot and other employees were slashed.
These salaries and allowances of all officers and employees except the pilots were adjusted three months ago. In such a situation, the demand for adjustment of salaries, allowances and other facilities of the pilots is not unreasonable.
The Bangladesh Airlines Pilots Association (BAPA) has written to the Biman authorities at least 10 times to press for their demands, but did not received any response. They have met more than once with the airline's managing director and chairman of the board of directors. In the words of the Biman authorities, those meetings have been 'successful', but in reality the problem has not been resolved.
The pilots think they have been deprived. In this context, the pilots decided not to do any extra work after flying the scheduled 75 hours a month. As a result, two Doha-bound and Dubai-bound flights could not fly on time on Monday.
However, after the assurance of the authorities, the pilots announced the suspension of the strike and they are performing additional duties in the interest of the state airlines. The pilots' demands will be raised at a board meeting next Saturday and efforts will be made to resolve these, the airline said. There are currently 157 pilots in the airlines.
Due to the corona situation, an administrative order was issued on 5 May last year to reduce the salaries of the officers, employees and pilots of the airline. This reduced the salaries of pilots from 25 to 50 per cent. Overseas allowance was closed, which is part of the fixed salary. As a result, the total salary cut stood at 57 to 65 per cent.
In addition, overtime, productivity allowance and flying allowance were also halted. Then in the first week of March this year, Biman reduced the salary cut to 10 per cent. And the salary cut of pilots who have been working for 5 to 10 years, was reduced from 20 to 5 per cent. And for those who have been working for more than 10 years, this was reduced from 40 to 25.
The decision of the authorities was not acceptable to the pilots. They claim that in the last three months, the salaries of other Biman officials and employees have been fully adjusted, but 48 per cent of the total salaries of the pilots are yet to be adjusted. The pilots' salaries have been reduced due to the pandemic, but the salaries and allowances of the top officials of the airline have not been reduced by a single penny.
Authorities must remember that pilots and crews have a big role to play in overcoming the corona crisis. When air transport is returning to normal after a long hiatus, this stalemate in the national flag carrier is not desirable. If the state-run airlines comes to a halt for any reason, the private and foreign airlines will take up the opportunity.
The Biman authorities should resolve the issue quickly consulting with the pilots and accept their justified demands. If the salaries and allowances of other officers and employees of the airline have been fully adjusted, why would it be an exception for the pilots? And recognising pilots as corona front-line fighters is a matter of policy decision by the government. There is no denying that during the corona period, they took risks to operate flights, transport passengers and goods, and bring vaccines imported from abroad.