Islamabad Airport Boarding Bridge Operators Threaten to Go On Strike to Seek Pay Raise

[Abbas Ali]

Contracted passenger boarding bridge operators at Islamabad International Airport have threatened to go on strike. They are demanding pay raise and want their services/job regularized.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Privately-owned company's ten boarding bridge operators involved in strike have been sacked.

Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has arranged substitute boarding bridge operators from other other airports of the country for smooth flight operations at Islamabad International Airport.

Contracted boarding bridge operators had gone on strike over the issue of non-payment of salaries for three months, lack of facilities and unavailability of transportation.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

10 passenger bridge operators sacked for striking

Mohammad Asghar

July 15, 2019

RAWALPINDI: As many as 10 passenger bridge operators at the Islamabad International Airport (IIA) were dismissed from service on Sunday after they stopped work demanding payment of salaries on Saturday.

As they went on a strike, airport authorities called bridge operators from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and no flight was delayed.

According to sources, the operators associated with a private company went on a strike and refused to operate the bridges when an Air China flight (CA-945) arrived from Beijing.

The protesters were demanding payment of their salaries, transport facility and medical allowance.

Airport deputy manager Zia Ahmed and duty terminal manager Saqib approached the CAA which called its bridge operators from other airports, including two from Peshawar and two from Faisalabad.

On Sunday, the 10 operators were dismissed from service by the company’s management.

Later, the Airport Security Force (ASF) was intimated and asked for the cancellation of their security passes.

After the dismissal of the operators, a new duty schedule was chalked out for the bridge operators by the CAA.

As many as 14 operators, five of them from the CAA, have been assigned duty from 9am to 9pm while 18 operators will perform night duty and will be assisted by five employees from the CAA. The CAA operators will also keep an eye on the private company’s operators to avert any such situation in future.

Source: DAWN