BENGALURU: Employees of four transport corporations have warned the state government that they have waited long enough for their long-pending demands to be fulfilled and will be forced to go on an indefinite strike if the demands are not met soon.
Hundreds of transport employees of Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) and Kalyana Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KKSRTC) staged a protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru and at the divisional centres across the state on Tuesday.
The AITUC-affiliated KSRTC Staff and Workers’ Federation, in support of five other transport unions, under the banner Joint Action Committee led the protest and submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai with a list of 16 demands.
Their major demands are: increasing the basic pay by 25 per cent for all categories, reinstating employees who were dismissed for taking part in the 2021 protests, withdrawing FIR against the employees, reducing the work timing to eight hours with a shift system, free medical treatment for employees in multi-specialty hospitals, improving the working condition for all especially women and stop recruitment of staff on contract basis.
H V Anantha Subbarao, president of KSRTC Staff and Workers Federation, said, “The last pay revision, which was supposed to be implemented in 2020, has not been fulfilled citing the Covid pandemic and cash crunch. With the increase in the cost of living, our transport employees are struggling to lead a decent life.” Meanwhile, bus services were not disrupted due to the protest on Tuesday.