BENGALURU: Chaos broke out amidst the workers of the Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) at Freedom Park during the ‘Bengaluru Chalo’ protest led by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) as they called off the strike temporarily until March 2 for the state government to deliberate and fulfil their demands of salary arrears and wage revision.
Addressing the gathering at Freedom Park on Thursday, B Jayadevraje Urs, convenor, JAC, said the government had initially stated that it could not pay more than 14 months of pending arrears but later issued an order agreeing to release 26 months’ arrears. It also issued an order on wage revision. However, the unions have “categorically rejected” both decisions.
“Our protest has reached the government. They have sought some time to hold discussions and arrive at a specific decision. Considering the future of 1.15 lakh workers and the larger public interest, we have decided to give them time till March 2,” he said. The JAC reiterated that its two primary demands are payment of 38 months of pending wage arrears and a proper four-year wage settlement agreement.
He said if the government fails to convene a meeting and take a decision on these demands by March 2, the unions will launch a dharna at Freedom Park from that day.
The decision did not go well with many workers, who raised slogans against the temporary withdrawal of the strike. Seeking unity among employees, Urs urged all workers to extend full support to the committee’s decision, stating that the fight would continue until the demands of transport corporation employees are fulfilled.
The decision comes following the state government announcing on Wednesday evening that it will release salary arrears for 26 months and revise their pay with effect from April 1, 2025, as opposed to the union’s demand of clearing arrears of 38 months and wage revision from January 1, 2024, enhanced allowances and revision of Form-4.
However, the protest did not disrupt services across the state as the RTCs reported normal operations with overall fleet utilisation of beyond 96%.
Meanwhile, transport minister Ramalinga Reddy said the wage revision which was due in 2020 was not revised by the then BJP government and it was revised in the 2023 prospectively. He argued that the previous government could have cleared the arrears of 38 months.
KSRTC MD Akram Pasha addressed the gathering and assured the employees that their demands will be looked into.