Around 150 contract employees of the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) went on strike on Tuesday, January 3 demanding a pay hike. The employees, who work as Ticketing and Cash Management Officers (TCMOs) on the red line of the Hyderabad metro rail, said that they have been working on a monthly salary of Rs 11,000 for the past five years, without receiving a raise even once. The red line runs from Miyapur to LB Nagar, intersecting with the blue line at the busy Ameerpet station. The employees boycotted their duties on Tuesday and sat in protest outside the Ameerpet metro station, demanding an immediate salary hike. Their demands include a minimum monthly salary of Rs 25,000, yearly increments, free travel facility by metro for employees working night shifts, and at least 20 designated leaves apart from regular weekly off days.
The red line ticketing employees were earlier employed through a contracting agency called UDC. Starting from January 2023, the contract was switched to Mavin Agency, and the employees had hoped that their salaries would finally be hiked. They are now refusing to go back to work without a raise. According to the protesters, ticketing employees working on the blue line contracted through a different agency are paid about Rs 15,000 per month. Speaking to TNM, one of the protesting employees, Swaroop N, said, “We demand an annual pay hike of at least 10%. The present salary is not sufficient even for our basic needs.”
Moreover, the contract employees said that they do not receive any benefits from the contracting agency or HMRL. Vinod Kumar, another employee, said that the ticketing officers don’t even have free access to the metro trains. He alleged that employees were penalised if caught travelling by metro without a ticket, beyond the usual fine of Rs 110 collected from regular passengers for ticketless travel. The fine is deducted from the salary, he said.
“For travel alone, we end up spending nearly Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 every month. Hostel facilities cost around Rs 5,000. We are not even left with any money to send home to our families. Despite being the face of the Hyderabad metro to all the passengers, we don’t get paid enough,” he said.
Employees said they work for eight hours a day with insufficient breaks. They also complained that they have been working without proper leaves. An employee named Aruna said, “We have been working for five years without a raise and co-operating with HMRL for smooth operations of the metro trains all these years, but they don’t give us any benefits. We don’t have any health insurance, no designated leaves for festivals or sick leaves.”
She further said that although they are entitled to four days off in a month, they are often denied the time off as the agency asks them to work citing a shortage of manpower. “We take leaves only when there is an emergency and there is someone available to replace us in our duties. Even for that, we have to work an extra shift on the day before to avail an off the next day,” Aruna said.
Employees also alleged that they do not receive a notice for terminations. They alleged that in one instance, an employee was terminated abruptly for a small discrepancy in the ticket fare amount collected.
With nearly all the ticketing officers of the red line on strike, the metro stations are functioning with their duties being performed by employees who usually perform other duties and by TCMOs from other lines.
Dismissing the protesters’ claims, the HMRL management issued a statement saying that the contract employees were “spreading rumours and misinformation out of vested interest” and that stern action will be taken against them. “Few ticketing staff under a contracting agency have connived and abstained from work today with a purpose to disrupt train operations, causing passenger inconvenience… Their claims are false and their actions are highly against the public interest, which will call for stern action by the HMR management.” It also said that the management “ensures due facilities and benefits are given to staff, however, will be discussing with them to learn more.”
However, following talks with Mavin Agency, the protesters said that they were assured a raise, but the exact amount wasn’t specified. They said that the agency asked for three days’ time to make a final decision. While the protesters dispersed from the Ameerpet metro station, they said they would not return to their duties until the final decision over their demands was announced by the agency.