A day after employees of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) staged a sit-in protest against the dismissal of their colleagues, metro services in the city have been affected. Though a part of the services have been suspended, CMRL is claiming that this is because of ‘technical glitches' and not because of the strike.
The CMRL said in a statement on Tuesday that all inter-corridor train services between Chennai Central to Chennai Airport have been suspended temporarily due to technical glitches. Meanwhile, the employees union of the CMRL announced an indefinite strike. The CMRL had denied the possibility of service disruption due to the protest on Monday. A CMRL spokesperson had told TNM that since the off-duty employees are only on strike, the services will run uninterrupted.
“In connection with Metro Train services between Chennai Central to St.Thomas Mount - passengers travelling to Airport are requested to alight at Alandur Metro Station and change to Corridor 1 (lower platform at Alandur Station) for Airport,” the CMRL said. Metro train services between Washermenpet to Airport via AG - DMS is functioning as per schedule, it added.
Just a day earlier, around 130 employees staged a sit-in protest before the CMRL Managing Director's office in the city, demanding a meeting with him. The protest was against the CMRL's dismissal of eight employees, allegedly over attempts to unionize. The employees on the permanent rolls of the CMRL had set-up an employees union in June-July last year, which reportedly irked the CMRL.
“Return the jobs of eight office bearers of the employees union who have been dismissed for unionizing, without any conditions. When permanent employees are willing to join work for Rs 28,000(per month), why are there attempts to employee contract workers for Rs 68,000(per month)? Who is profiting from this? Don’t snatch the permanent jobs of Tamil Nadu’s youth by handing over all employees of the CMRL to the private sector,” a statement from the employees union said on Tuesday. The union also demanded that all contract workers be made permanent employees.
#PSA Chennai Metro railway employees union makes its strike official. Here's the poster calling it an indefinite strike and listing their demands. Metro users are requested to find alternate means of commute. @thenewsminute @dhanyarajendran pic.twitter.com/EnN7wj7OFJ
— Megha Kaveri (@meghakaveri) April 30, 2019