Regular services of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is likely to be affected on Friday with a section of employees deciding to go on a 24-hour token strike for a day starting Thursday midnight to protest the partial payment of salaries.
The strike has been called in protest against the delay in the disbursal of salary for the month of January and two months’ pension amounts. Talks convened by Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran failed to break the impasse with three unions — INTUC-affiliated Transport Democratic Front (TDF), AITUC-affiliated Kerala State Transport Employees Union (KSRTEU) and BMS-affiliated Kerala State Transport Employees Sangh — deciding to go ahead with their strike plan.
However, the CITU-affiliated Kerala State Road Transport Employees Association decided not to participate in the strike. The decision was made following the Minister’s assurance to disburse salary within February 7, among other proposals that were made. The Minister also promised to adopt steps to ensure that 50 per cent of the outstanding pension dues, including the dearness allowance, was disbursed on Friday.
A similar strike plan had been averted last month after Mr. Saseendran promised timely disbursal of salary and pension. At a programme held recently, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said the government was making attempts to ensure that the KSRTC could generate revenue sufficient for the disbursal of salary and pension within six months.
