Karnataka - Bangalore

Bus strike from December 15, unions demand pay parity

BANGALORE: The United Struggle Committee of Employees of State Road Transport Corporations on Tuesday urged the Government to offer pay parity with State government employees and amalgamate all the four corporations into one as per the Karnataka High Court directive.

If the Government did not heed their demands, workers of all the corporations would be forced to launch an indefinite strike from December 15, leaders of the committee said.

The managements had so far been exploiting the disunity among unions in the corporations and henceforth all the unions would work together, the leaders said.

The demands were made at a convention of members of various trade unions, including Centre for Indian Trade Union, All India Trade Union Congress, KSRTC SC/ST Employees’ Union, KSRTC United Employees’ Union, KSRTC SC/ST Officers’ and Employees’ Welfare Association, KSRTC Muslim Employees’ Association and KSRTC Employees and Retired Employees’ Welfare Board here.

During the meeting, members took exception to appointing trainee drivers and conductors and urged the managements to regularise their services. The trainee system, participants said, was nothing but slavery in disguise.

Apart from these demands, the members urged the Government to abolish operation of buses by private operators and nationalise the public transport sector stage by stage. This, the members said, would provide guaranteed employment to thousands besides offering greater advantages to the public. The profit earned by public sector undertakings would be utilised for creation of public assets thereby benefiting society, they said.

The convention was addressed by convenors of the committee — K.S. Sharma, S. Prasanna Kumar, B. Jayadevaraje Urs, Gangadharaiah, K.R. Vijaya Kumar and H.S. Manjunath.

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