The Telangana Mazdoor Union (TMU), a union of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) has decided to go ahead with its indefinite strike after talks between the employees and the government failed.
The employees are protesting against the government’s failure to announce new recruitments, and have demanded a pay hike. The TSRTC employees union and workers unions have given a call for an indefinite strike from June 11.
The employees have also asked the government to reimburse the Rs 1,500 crore it owes to the TSRTC. Employees allege that the financial crunch in the department is causing immense problems to retired employees who are yet to receive their dues and pension payments.
The decision to go ahead with a strike despite Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao warning them against doing so.
“If you go on strike, it will be the last day of strike in the history of TSRTC,” he said. The CM also threatened that protesting employees would be removed immediately.
If the protest goes as scheduled, nearly 10,000 bus services will be disrupted.
Speaking to TNM, TSRTC Telangana Mazdoor Union (TMU) president V Tirupathi said that talks with a three-member sub-committee constituted for the purpose failed. The sub-committee constituted to resolve the crisis comprised of Transport Minister Mahender Reddy, Finance Minister Etela Rajender and Energy Minister Jagadeesh Reddy.
“We had a talk with the sub-committee yesterday (Thursday) as well. They once again asked us to defer the protest days, but could not give us a deadline or assure us by what time would solve our problems. They didn’t even give the date of the next meeting. They are not agreeing to any of our demands. Instead of negotiating with us, they are just asking us to call off the strike. How is that reasonable? We had talks thrice, but no dialogue happened. So, we'll go ahead with the strike,” he said.
Tirupathi also said that he was deeply disappointed with the threat of the CM to suspend the employees who would partake in the protest.
“The language of the CM is not desirable. We are protesting because we are left with no choice. The dues of the employees who retired last year are yet to be cleared. There has to be a pay revision every four years, but that has not happened. The government should at least clear the dues of the retired employees. They are giving no clarity on it.”
“The present Managing Director proved to be the worst MD in the history of RTC,” he added.
Responding to the CMs threat, TMU General Secretary Ashwathama Reddy, said: “He might threaten us with such consequences, but we will go ahead.”
As per the Chief Minister’s statement, the TSRTC has nearly 53,000 employees, and if they abstain from work, the government would incur a loss of Rs 4 crore every day.