Transport staff plan strike on March 25

BENGALURU: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) employees’ demands have been pending for over three years. Before coming to power, the Congress party had promised to provide the same salary to transport employees as government employees.

However, even after two years of in power, the government has failed to fulfill this promise. The Karnataka State Road Transport Employees’ Federation has given an ultimatum to the government, demanding that they be paid the same salary as government employees by March 22.

Otherwise, the Employees’ Union has warned the government that it will call a meeting of the four corporations’ organizations on March 25 and announce the date of a transport strike of the four corporations in that meeting.

In this regard, the state president of the Karnataka State Road Transport Employees’ Union, Chandrashekhar, has given a deadline to the transport department.

The main demands of the transport employees include:

Equal pay for transport employees as government employees (implementation of the 7th Pay Commission).

Payment of 38 months’ pending salary.

Conducting union elections.

Resolving issues of employees who were dismissed during the 2021 strike.

The transport employees will first stage a protest and hunger strike, followed by a strike if their demands are not met.

The transport staff will stage a protest in the first phase and then go on a hunger strike. If demands are not fulfilled, they will boycott, said Nagaraj, the leader of the transport employees.