KOTTAYAM: A one-man protest against excessive trade unionism appears to have put the CPM and its feeder organisation CITU in the dock in Kottayam. Raj Mohan, a Gulf returnee and the owner of Vettikulangara bus services adopted a different mode of protest when trade union leaders prevented him from operating his bus service following a dispute over employees’ wages — he started selling lottery tickets in front of his non-operational bus.
Raj Mohan, a native of Thiruvarppu, started Vettikulangara bus services on the Thiruvarppu-Kottayam route after returning from the Gulf and owning four buses. Recently, one of the employees raised a dispute over wages, which, Raj Mohan said, was settled at the district labour office in Kottayam.
However, a couple of days ago, CITU leaders placed the union’s flags on his bus preventing him from operating the service unless he settled the wage dispute. Following this, Raj Mohan started selling lottery tickets in front of the bus. He named it ‘Times Square Lucky Centre’, taking a jab at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s recent Times Square address.
“Everyone knows the bus industry is in crisis following increased operational costs. Yet, I agreed to increase employee wages around a month ago. However, one of the employees is demanding more. This is not possible considering the current revenue,” he said.
According to him, excessive trade unionism had landed the KSRTC in crisis, and the union leaders have now turned against the private bus industry. “I have three other buses which are running in loss. And the union leaders have targeted the only profit-making bus, putting me in trouble.
There are around 15 employees here. They don’t have any objection with the present wage system,” he said. Raj Mohan also alleged politics in the CITU’s move as he works with the BJP. Meanwhile, trade union authorities said they launched a protest after Raj Mohan failed to implement the wage hike as agreed in the talks held at the district labour office.