CHENNAI: The employees of Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (MTC) decided to call off their strike temporarily following an agreement with the government during the tenth round of discussions with the representatives of 47 transport unions at Chrompet training centre for bus drivers and conductors.
The workers had earlier announced an indefinite strike if the government fails to reach a consensus with the workers in the talks. After talks with the representatives on Monday, the transport minister, MR Vijayabhaskar along with transport secretary PWC Davidar, agreed to immediately give an increment of Rs 1,200 for all the employees.
“Main demands put forth by the workers today include salary increment and settlement of arrears. For now, temporarily each employee, irrespective of his or her designation would get Rs 1,200 and the actual settlement would be done in December, during which time arrears in salary increment for the workers designated to get a higher amount would be given”, said Vijayabhaskar.
This would cost the department an additional Rs 15 crore per month. When asked about the provident fund and other arrears, he said they would provide a detailed report in court on October 9. Further talks on the issue are expected to happen in the first week of December, meaning that the workers would not get Deepavali bonus this year. “We have temporarily called off the protest as government addressed a few of our demands and most importantly, public would be put into hardship if the buses do not ply during festival season. However, this is only temporary,” said AS Soundarajan, General Secretary, Centre for Indian Trade Union (CITU).
