THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The trade union strike demanding a salary revision in the KSRTC inconvenienced passengers on Friday as no bus services could be operated. The strike forced passengers to depend on auto-rickshaws and private contract carriages in places where there are no private bus services. More trade unions extended support to the INTUC-affiliated trade union to conduct a strike on Saturday after KSRTC imposed a 'dies non' against unauthorised absence from work.
Transport Minister Antony Raju came out against the strike. “It is unacceptable that the employees chose to inconvenience the public during the talks with the government on salary revision. We are seriously considering laws to include KSRTC in the list of essential services,” said the minister. Inclusion in essential services will give powers to the government to introduce stringent penal provisions against the disruption of services. The minister also pointed out that the LDF government gave money for salaries and pensions in KSRTC during Covid, when it generated meagre revenue and employees had no work.
Members of Transport Democratic Federation (INTUC), Kerala State Transport Employees Sangh (BMS) and Kerala State Transport Employee’s Union (AITUC) are striking against conditions set by the government for salary revision and reforms in the organisation. The salary revision on the terms of employees would cost an additional burden of Rs 30 crore. The INTUC-affiliated trade union has already announced a 48-hour strike and AITUC-affiliated KSTEU decided to extend support on Friday. Earlier, the KSRTC management and Transport Minister held talks with trade unions to find an amicable solution. But the talks failed to reach a consensus.
A meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last week agreed in principle to implement the salary revision in KSRTC after a gap of nine years. But the government also pressed for more revenue generation and speeding up of reforms in the organisation.
The major differences were on the scale of salary structure, appointments based on compassionate grounds, gratuity on par with government departments etc. The management agreed on raising emergency aid to families of crew members dying on duty, forming pension fund trust, resolving ambiguity in cost of damage rules etc. The management also discussed the ‘Madhya Pradesh model’ with trade unions. Under the model, the employees will be paid 50 per cent salary and other benefits including pension during the leave period. The management is planning to implement the model among conductors and mechanical staff who are found to be in excess.
Earlier, the Transport Minister had informed the assembly that the financial crisis in the KSRTC has worsened during the pandemic. It operates only 3300 services at present and 40 per cent of them are not making any profit. According to him, the KSRTC spent 70 per cent of the income on fuel and it is unlikely to operate more than 3800 services till March 2022. He also said that the KSRTC had around 7500 excess staff and the board was considering options such as lay-offs as it could not find money to pay salaries from the revenue generated.