The Akhila Karnataka Rajya Raste Sarige Nowkarara Mahamandali has virtually set a 15-day deadline for the State government to take a concrete decision on wage revision and settlement of all issues through negotiations, failing which employees would be forced to call for “direct action”.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Monday, Mahamandali president K.S. Sharma and other office-bearers said the government had not taken any decision on wage revision, which was to come into effect from January this year. In the past, the government had been taking ‘unilateral’ decisions on such a serious matter.
The Mahamandali wanted the government to negotiate with the employees before taking any decision. Nothing less than a negotiated settlement on the issue was acceptable to the employees, Mr. Sharma said.
Other office-bearers said the government had been enhancing wages of the employees working for State-owned transport corporations through unilateral decisions, where the increase was marginal, to the extent of 5% maximum. While the wages were increased by 10% during last revision, the Mahamandali was demanding that it should be close to the scales provided in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where the employees got nearly 40% hike.
