After a court in India stopped the two-day work stoppage of over 20,000 Air India employees, blame is being placed on the company rather than the union. CPM is alleging that the airline has withdrawn recognition of one of the unions involved in the strike, the Air Corporation Employees Union, and that they are refusing to negotiate with the employees. Air India fired 17 employees, including union leaders and suspended 15 others. Employees were protesting over what they called a 'gag order' preventing them from talking to the media. The company says that there was no gag order, but a general circular asking employees to not talk to the media. CPM called upon the government to take a hand in fixing the problems at the state-owned airline.
See "Air India managment caused mess, not unions: CPM", The Economic Times, May 27, 2010