VIJAYAWADA: At last, APSRTC Chairman Varla Ramaiah on Sunday announced interim relief (IR) for employees as per the directive of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. With this, the 54,000 employees of the APSRTC will receive 19 per cent IR with effect from August 1. The State government announced 19 per cent IR even though the RTC unions are demanding 27 per cent.
The unrecognised unions were unhappy with the government’s decision. Employees Union (EU) leaders said that the management has announced a meagre 19 per cent IR against the demand for 27 per cent. Opposing the management’s decision, the EU leaders have termed the IR announcement day a ‘Black Day.’
They also gave a call to the employees to attend their duties wearing black badges and stage demonstrations across the State until Tuesday.
“The National Mazdoor Union (NMU) has utterly failed in negotiating with the government and provide 27 per cent IR to the employees,’’ alleged EU State general secretary K Padmakar. He also recalled that the management has provided 27 per cent relief to 64,000 employees in 2014, before the State's bifurcation.
Then, the annual income of the corporation was Rs 3,697 crore and occupancy ratio (OR) stood at 67 per cent, he informed. Presently, the RTC has a strength of 54,000 employees and it was earning a revenue of Rs 5,500 crore per annum. “How can the government provide 19 per cent relief to the employees when there is scope to give 27 per cent with RTC’s revenue increasing by Rs 1,803 crore, OR by 13 per cent and staff decreasing by 10,000 since 2014?’’ questioned EU additional general secretary P Damodar.
Addressing a press conference here, Ramaiah said even though the employees wanted 27% IR, the government had decided to provide 19% as the corporation was incurring losses. The 19% IR will cause Rs 249 crore burden per annum on the government.
“The State government has decided to provide IR to the employees as the decision to give wages under Pay Revision Commission (PRC) will take some more time,” he informed. Recently, Transport Minister K Atchannaidu and RTC MD NV Surendra Babu held talks with NMU leaders and convinced them to accept 19% IR citing the financial status of the RTC. In next few months, the relief will be increased to the staff following the PRC guidelines, Ramaiah added.