Private bus workers in the district are going on an indefinite strike from April 6 demanding 20 per cent bonus and five per cent ex-gratia, as conciliatory talks initiated by the Labour Department officials here were inconclusive.
The District Labour Office here on Tuesday informed that a fresh conciliation meeting will be held at 3 p.m. on April 6 in the presence of Regional Joint Labour Commissioner on the dispute over bonus of bus workers in 2015-16.
The joint action council of bus workers’ trade unions said that it would go ahead with the strike. The bus operators’ associations alleged that the union’s demand was unjustified. They also said that they have approached the High Court against the strike.
Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) leader K.P. Sahadevan said at a press conference here on Wednesday that the bus workers had been getting annual bonus since pre-Independence period.
The practice of fixing the bonus amount through negotiation between unions and bus owners had been continuing since 1958, he noted.
He also said that the bus operators’ stand that they would grant festival allowance to the workers was an affront to the workers and the unions, he added.
While the trade union leaders said that the demand for bonus was in tune with the Bonus Act, the bus operators argued that under the new amendment in the Act only the workers in establishments having more than 20 workers are eligible for bonus.
Bus Operators’ Association Co-ordination Committee chairman V.J. Sebastian said that the associations have approached the court as the demand is illegal.
