On December 9, employees of the International Airports Authority of India (IAAI) Workers Union, the Indian Airports Employees Union and the Airports Authority Kamgar Union have decided to stage a one-hour demonstration in the afternoon to protest the decision of the central government to privatise several airports in the country.

``If the Mumbai airport is privatised then we fear that the regular workers may be pushed to the contract labour system, leading to retrenchments. Besides, the government is also blocking legal escapes through which the grievances of workers can be redressed,'' said the branch secretary of IAAI Workers Union, L S Devarde. He added that workers also fear that they may lose several welfare facilities such as medical allowances and leave travel concessionsfollowing privatization.

Though essential airport services will not be hit due to the worker's hour-long dharna at terminal 1B, Santacruz, on December 9, a second agitation may cripple the supply of trolleys at both domestic and international terminals.

Workers are protesting the confiscation of the identity cards of six of their employees`by the airport police on the suspicion that they had been creating an artificial shortage of trolleys so that they could be tipped for providing trolleys to passengers.

`The airport police blame us for hiding the trolleys but this is false as there is a genuine shortage of trolleys,'' reasoned Devarde. He added that the police have still not returned the six identity cards, in spite of repeated demands from the unions. The union has protested that only the Airports Authority of India (AAI) have the right to take internal action against erring employees.

``Once we fix the date to agitate against police high-handedness, the passengers have to simply go without thetrolleys at the airport,'' said the union leader. However, employees say they are still willing to negotiate with the top officials of AAI and the police in order to reach a mutual agreement.