In view of the transport unions strike on Thursday, the Chennai Metro will run its services with an increased frequency during the peak hours. Additional trips will also be enabled during the non-peak hours as per passenger flow. In an announcement, the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) said that it will run the peak hour services with a higher frequency of five minutes from 7 am to 11 am and 4 pm to 8 pm on Thursday. This increase in timings and frequency of metro trains have been arranged keeping in mind the possible disruption in bus services in the city due to the transport unions strike on Thursday.
Nine transport unions, mostly affiliated to the DMK, announced an indefinite strike starting Thursday, emphasising various demands to be met including clearing of provident fund amount, retirement benefits and wage revision. Around one lakh workers are expected to stay off duty in support of the strike. The participating unions include the Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) and All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). The strike is expected to cover eight State Transport Undertakings including the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) in Chennai. According to reports, retirement benefits to the tune of around Rs 1,500 crore is pending clearance, thus affecting thousands of retired employees. Wage revision talks have also been pending for over a year and a half at present.
In July 2019, employees of the MTC went on a flash strike demanding they be paid their pending wages. The strike was allegedly held based on rumours that employees will not be paid full month’s salary. However, a transport official had clarified that full salary was not credited since the last working day of June was Sunday. Transport Minister MR Vijayabaskar also assured that the full salaries to all employees will be credited by the evening of the strike day.