THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KSRTC employees in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode have called for a lightning strike in protest over assigning Kudumbashree to handle the reservation counter. The bus service from Thiruvananthapuram depot was stopped following the strike called by joint trade union.
The KSRTC employees, affiliated to the INTUC, CITU, AITUC and drivers' union are opposing outsourcing of the reservation counters. Though BMS earlier joined the strike with other trade unions but they have now withdrawn from it.
Other trade unions are moving forward with the protest allowing no bus services to ply from Thiruvananthapuram depot. "Unless we get a written order from the CMD we won't back off from this strike," said S K Mani, INTUC leader.
"As of now the training has been stopped and the decision has been postponed. This decision is not going to affect any single employee of KSRTC," said KSRTC CMD Tomin J Thachankary.
Union leaders said that the protest will be intensified across the state and the protest has begun in other depots too. They were protesting in front of the reservation counter in order to prevent the Kudambasree workers from entering the counter. Transport Minister A K Saseendran had declared that he will meet the trade union leaders to discuss the issue on Tuesday.