BENGALURU: The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited Employees Union is determined to indefinitely strike work from March 22 unless the management calls for talks and redresses all their grievances. It has printed 10,000 leaflets and will be distributing them to the public to explain the rationale behind the move to halt Metro train operations. The chief demand of the union is BMRCL’s recognition of the union so that it can play the role of ‘a collective bargaining agent’ on behalf of the employees.
Nearly 900 of the 1,200 Metro employees are affiliated with the Bangalore Metro Rail Employees Union (BMREU). Over 70 employees, wearing black protest badges, some of them donning the Metro pink and black uniform, accompanied the union leaders for the press briefing as a show of solidarity on Friday. Legal advisor to the union, D Leelakrishnan, said the response from BMRCL that action would be invoked against them under ESMA was not legally tenable. “The High Court had on November 7 last year issued a stay on its earlier attempt to invoke ESMA against striking employees in the union and others vs BMRCL, State and Central government. So, the state ESMA cannot be invoked,” he said.
He added, “Let the management invite us for talks and take steps to solve our demands. We will call off the strike the very next minute. We are forced to go on a strike because of the management.” Union vice-president Suryanarayana Murthy said, “Following the special general body meeting of our union on February 21, we decided to go on an indefinite strike in support of our demands. As required under Section 22 of the Industrial Disputes Act, we have issued a 14-notice to the Management and the Central Labour Commission’s branch in Yeshvantpur.” He charged, “The strike is forced upon the employees by the irresponsible, callous and indifferent attitude of the management in recognising our union and settling our genuine grievances. It is the last resort.” Murthy pointed out that they had been pleading with the management to recognise them for over two years now.
Seek better pay and night-duty allowance
BMRCL employees spoke of the need to increase their salaries by implementing the Third Pay Commission for public sector employees. The non-payment of any allowance for performing night-duty was an issue which resonated with most of them. “Each one of us works at least 12 night shifts each month. Other Metros, even new ones like the Kochi Metro whose employees we trained, pay amounts ranging between `100 and `260 as allowance. Why are we alone discriminated among all Metros in the country?” he asks.
Despite working for eight years, most people have no promotions , another employee added. “Employees active in the union are particularly targeted and promotions withheld and increments are cut by specifying reasons like `misconduct’,” another employee said. “For every small issue, there is harassment. After a 1.5-hour round trip, an employee is given an hour’s break. If we step out of the station to have a tender coconut, we are immediately ordered to step inside,” a train operator said. Another employee pointed out that he was marked half-a-day leave for reporting one minute late for duty. A woman train operator summed up the general employee mood saying, “This is a do or die battle for us to improve our life. So, we fully back the strike.”
Union’s main demands