04 March,2011 06:27 AM IST | | Sayed Roshan
Around 1,500 workers of the ground staff of the international and domestic airport in the city went on a strike last night.
The workers, who belong to the Nationalist Congress Party's union at the airport, claimed that they were harassed by the labour union of a rival political party.
The incident occurred at around 11 last night, when the housekeeping staff and cargo loaders joined the NCP's union, upsetting the rival union, which took away their entry cards and asked them to go home.
Following the rough treatment, they thronged outside the domestic airport.
Kiran Pawaskar, Member of the Legislative Council from the NCP, who has formed the union, spoke with MiD DAY at 1 am.
"Many members of the ground staff and cargo loaders have joined my union. Therefore, the opposition union is harassing them. They took entry cards from some 50 of them.
Peeved with their behaviour, my union workers called a strike. I have told them to call it off and resume work immediately."
Yuvraj Gaikwad, member of the NCP labour union, said, "Even though we didn't receive our salaries and provident funds on time, the union we were earlier part of didn't do anything about it.
So we joined the NCP's union. And the rival union is now harassing us."
Rishabh Shukla, a passenger awaiting his flight to Delhi, said, "I am standing outside the airport, and facing a lot of problems due to the strike."
