In an unprecedented move members of Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (Palpa) have moved a no confidence motion against the present executive committee (EC) of the association for failing to perform duties in true letter and in spirit of the PALPA Constitution and PALPA-PIA Working Agreement 2011-13. They have asked the incumbent President of PALPA and other members to resign and offer themselves for investigation.
It is for the first time that the weary members have requested all the executive committee (EC) members, including the President Palpa to resign and appoint an election committee to hold an extraordinary election. Elections in PALPA are held every two years and the present body had taken over in February 2014. Its term will end in February 2016. PALPA has a total membership of about 550 members and the present President had won the elections by a thin margin of just four votes.
The prime allegation is that the present PALPA leadership is busy penalising its own membership while completely overlooking the aspect of welfare, which is against the PALPA constitution and clear violation of the "The Articles of Association" Clause (5),(7) and Chapter 1-Article 1-Clause 1.1.3.7 and Clause 1.1.3.24. The questions raised by the membership of Palpa on the performance of the EC include: automatic ratification of the minutes of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on February 22, 2014 without the knowledge of members because the minutes were not yet provided to the membership of the association by the executive committee; the General Secretary in clear violation of the PALPA constitution overlooked the reservations of younger pilots regarding the seniority issues, so they took the matter to the court of law.
The executive committee did not make any effort to pursue the resolution that was approved in the association's AGM held in November 2013 regarding the enhancement of retirement age of pilots to 65 years in front of the PIAC Management/Board of Directors. The matter was in the interest of the pilot fraternity but the current EC did not even bother to pursue the case and put PALPA's point of view in front of the PIA management when they approved the contract till the age of 62 years across the board. This failure of the committee has made senior pilots to run from pillar to post to earn a livelihood.
The previous EC managed to convince the government that the flying allowance of the pilots would be treated separately from the salary and the applicable tax rate would be at the rate of 5 percent effective February 1, 2014. But the current budget revealed a tax on flying allowance at the rate of 7.5 percent and the EC did not bother to remind the government of their commitment made through the Cabinet Division in writing that the tax on flying allowance shall be 5 percent.
Another failure of the EC is that the outstanding foreign allowances have not been paid to members since March 2014, so the already cash-starved members are meeting their foreign slip expenses out of their own pockets. The past leadership of PALPA through AGM ruling established the Institute of Aviation & Management Sciences (PIAMS) offering Bachelors & Masters degrees in the field of Aviation Management.
But the current leadership of the association used dirty techniques to close down this big achievement of PALPA and they were successful in it when over 100 students left the institute and the institute was shut down. However, some of the students moved the Sindh High Court and got the institute reopened. The current leadership of the association in its pre-election campaign suggested doing away with the Way Forward Committee (WFC) but after getting elected President PALPA nominated two PALPA members to be appointed as Team Leader and Secretary of the WFC. This has posed serious questions on the seriousness and credibility of the President Palpa.
The incumbent PALPA team along with the management offered options to A-310 senior captains to opt for A-320, by which the lawful delegation of supervisory assignment to pilots (who have gone on A-320 as per their seniority) has been denied. Juniors will now be flying higher equipment and seniors lower equipment. This is a clear violation of clause 1.1.2, clause 4.5, 5.5 and its sub clauses, clause 5.9-Note 1 and clause 5.10 of PALPA-PIAC working agreement 2011-13.
The unjustified grounding of air worthy B-737s in June 2014 by the PIA management made the airline shrink its flight operations and has also resulted in the redundancy of B-737s flight crew. It was the duty of the incumbent PALPA EC to safeguard the interest of B-737 flight crew but they failed to do so and this has given way to management's excuse of brining aircraft on wet lease. Now, seven B-737 pilots are sitting idle for the last four months.
The membership of Palpa through this no confidence motion needs an explanation from the President PALPA regarding his interference in the PIA management affairs, which at one time led the Director Flight Operations PIA Captain Qasim Hayat resign from his position. And the General Secretary issued him an explanation letter which added insult to his injuries.
The EC is not raising any objection on the induction of A-320 aircraft on wet lease at the time when a number of Palpa members are awaiting promotions since long. The EC is seen focusing on personal agendas that involve getting lucrative flights, getting friends appointed as Chief Pilots, travelling 'SUPY' to attend marriages in Manchester and New York etc, while the approved clauses of Working Agreement 2011-2013 like NS-I tickets status, block time payment, medical facilities, etc have not been touched as yet.
During the AGM in November 2013, it was decided that PALPA will not support privatisation of the national flag carrier because in case of privatisation the pilots in excess of the required 200 may lose their jobs. But PALPA being the representative of the pilots' fraternity has done nothing so far in order to safeguard their careers.
The incumbent General Secretary PALPA Captain Sohail Ahmed was terminated from his service under clause 24(a) of Service and Discipline act of PIAC but he fraudulently got his name included in the list of the employees to be re-instated after the dilution of Turkish Airline agreement with PIA. His re-instatement is, therefore, totally wrong and illegal and the Palpa membership wants to know how he can hold the prestigious position of General Secretary PALPA when his credibility, employment in PIAC, and membership of PALPA is questionable.
The motto of PALPA vide clause 1.2.7 of PALPA Constitution is safer flying but the President PALPA has blatantly violated it twice, in April 2014 and September 2014, by disregarding the mandatory rest hours between two flights. Also, he also violated clause 1.1.3 under the caption "OBJECTS" and its sub clause 1.1.3.17 of the PALPA Constitution which states that one of the objects of the association is "to promote strict adherence to all laws, rules and regulations framed for the promotion of safety of life". These repeated violations led to raise several questions that why a person representing the pilot fraternity instead of setting examples is continuously bringing bad name to this association.