Employees of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, belonging to CITU-affiliated TNSTC Employees Union, have come out with a resolution asking the state government to work out fresh pension and promotion policies as well as fill in the vacancies existing in the organization, among other demands.
N. Subramaniam, state committee member of the Union, told reporters that the government should ensure a unified pension policy since the present system follows different methodologies to compute the pension for the staff who superannuated before 1994 and for the workers who retired after 1994.
The employees wanted the state government to implement the wage revision signed between the management, government and workers last year in its full.
“So far, only drivers and conductors have got their wages revised whereas the pay scales of driving inspectors and checking inspectors were yet to be revised despite the recommendations for the same in the wage pact,” said Mr Subramaniam.
Vacancies
The employees pointed out that large number of vacancies in the technical section had been affecting the smooth operation and maintenance of buses.
“About 500 posts of mechanics in various depots in the district have to be filled,” they said.
The meeting also complained that the management had been assigning extra workload to drivers in the last few years without taking into consideration the resultant fatigue and stress on them.
“The drivers are now forced to cover up to 350 km in a day against 200 km covered about three years back,” Mr Subramaniam said.
Apart from these demands, the Union wanted the Corporation to stop utilizing the services of conductors in the administrative section without giving the due promotion or pay scale.
Mr Subramaniam said it was condemnable that about 6,500 drivers and conductors in the state, who were recruited both on regular and contract basis in the last few years, had been terminated recently citing non-performance.
The workers also staged a demonstration to highlight their demands.
