The union cited the recent Sitaram Yechury-headed Parliamentary Standing Committee’s report which strongly advocates not shutting down the existing Hyderabad and Bangalore airports. The union is very cautious this time terming the move as ‘non-cooperation’ and not a ‘strike’ to ensure the courts do not swing into action. A similar crippling ‘strike’ called by the unions and backed by the Left parties in February 2006, when the Delhi and Mumbai airports were privatised for upgradation, had invited the ire of the Delhi High Court. The court had then forbidden the union from impeding the functioning of the airports.

The employees had postponed a similar strike call in February this year after the Government said it will consider some of the demands. But talks in the last few weeks failed to break the deadlock.