Civil aviation officers demand salary increase

KARACHI:

The Civil Aviation Officers Association Pakistan has announced that it will stage a series of protests starting today (Wednesday) to press for an increase in salaries of officers.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Association President Ghulam Mustafa Mirani said that the body will take out rallies at all 42 airports of the country.

“An increase in salaries of officers has been put on hold for the last one year, despite approval of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) board. Due to unknown reasons, the increment has been withheld for another two months,” he said, adding, “the officers are desperately waiting for the pay rise.”

Earlier, the association gave a deadline of March 11 to the government and later extended it to March 15, he said, adding that the association has now decided to start staging protests without disturbing operations of CAA at any airport.

As a first step, officers will start wearing black arm bands, followed by hunger strikes if their demands are not met.

Another association official said the officers do not want to create problems for CAA in its regular operations as it would hurt the interest of the country.

Association officials informed that the dispute arose after the government announced an increase in salaries of CAA workers, which did not include officers at managerial levels.

In 2009-10, the government increased salaries of workers, excluding officers, on ad hoc basis. This time too, workers will be given a 40 per cent pay rise, while the officers will be sidelined.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2011.