A meeting held by the regional labour commissioner on Friday to reconcile the differences between the management of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and its employees’ union proved to be inconclusive with the parties failing to arrive at an amicable compromise.
Friday's meeting started at 11.30 a.m and went on till 2 p.m. The BMRCL was represented by the heads of Human Resources, Finance and Legal departments.
Another meeting will be held on Monday.
“We are hoping that the next meeting would yield a result. In the interest of the public, there is a need to withdraw the strike call,” said Mahendra Jain, MD of BMRCL, adding that the company is ready to attend to the grievances of employees, within reason. “As the matter is now before the Labour Department, nothing much can be revealed on the issue at this stage.”
A source in the BMRCL said that, in the meeting, officials told representatives of the Labour Department that the strike is against provisions of the Metro Railway Operations and Maintenance Act.
Employees’ union demanded that BMRCL recognise their union, solve the wage disparity, and improve the working environment for permanent employees. Suryanarayana Murthy, vice-president of the union, said, “It is a fact that the BMRCL failed to deliver on the promises made during the previous strike. We are very firm on our stand. The call for the strike will be withdrawn if the BMRCL agrees to our demands, which are reasonable. If they fail to do that, we will go ahead with the strike.”
He added that the union has submitted documents to the Labour Department showing the wage disparity between contractual and permanent employees, as well as a comparison of the wages of various metro corporations and others.
The union has announced that 1,200 permanent staff will participate in the indefinite strike. Some employees were seen issuing pamphlets to the general public at railway stations, bus stands and metro stations to support the strike.
After the union called for a strike, the BMRCL management had issued a warning saying that action would be taken if employees participate in the strike and had also written to the Labour Department for ‘reconciliation’.
