CHENNAI: Travel plan of thousands of commuters for Pongal festival may go haywire as nearly 30 trade unions of state transport corporations have announced an indefinite strike from January 9 in support of their demands. The decision was announced by the representatives of the trade unions on Wednesday after talks with the labour and transport departments ended inconclusively.
Office-bearers of the CITU, one of the biggest transport trade unions in the state, said the government has refused to fulfil all their crucial demands, including the one regarding outsourcing of conductor and driver jobs. The fleet capacity of the eight state transport corporations in Tamil Nadu is 19,500. About 1.7 crore commuters use government buses every day. The major demands presented by the workers unions include an increase in DA for pensioners and current employees, filling of about 35,000 vacancies, and initiation of discussions for wage revision. The unions also wanted the government to stop the proposal to outsource bus driver and conductor jobs.
Late on Wednesday, Transport Minister S S Sivasankar, in a statement, urged transport workers to drop their strike plan and outlined the measures taken by the DMK government for the benefit of workers. He said talks with labour unions will take place after the Pongal festival.
The LPF affiliated with the DMK and other unions in the DMK alliance have not joined the strike call. Of the workforce of 1.15 lakh in the eight transport corporations, 35% to 40% employees are associated with the LPF and its friendly unions. A CITU officer-bearer said more than 90,000 retired workers have not got hike in DA for over 15 years.
GO already passed to fill vacancies, says minister
“While pensioners from both state and central government departments received DA hikes, transport workers alone have been deprived of it for the past 15 years. Those who joined after 2003 also have not been given regular DA revision,” a senior trade union member said.
Due to high vacancies, thousands of workers have been compelled to do double shifts and have been denied leave during family functions and festivals, he said. Minister SS Sivasankar, in his statement, said the DM K government gave 20% bonus on its own though there was no demand from the workers.
The government has also allocated Rs 2,800 crore as compensation for free bus scheme for women, Rs 2,000 for diesel subsidy, and Rs 1,500 crore for student concession passes. “A GO to fill the vacancies had already been issued. Other demands will be looked into after Pongal festival,” the minister said. A senior official said talks with trade unions will be held on January 19 and all their demands will be looked into.
8 firms run 19k buses
Eight state transport corporations operate 19,500 buses. About 1.7 crore commuters use government buses per day. Main demands include hike in DA and filling of vacancies