KSRTC unions withdraw strike call

January 03, 2017 07:30 pm | Updated 07:30 pm IST - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

The token strike called by four unions in the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) from Tuesday midnight in protest against the delay in the disbursement of salary and pension and freezing of six per cent Dearness Allowance has been withdrawn following an assurance from Minister of Transport A.K. Saseendran that the salary and pension would be disbursed at the earliest and 6 per cent DA along with the salary of December.

The Indian National Trade Union Congress-affiliated Transport Democratic Front (TDF) announced that it had postponed the stir, while the All India Trade Union Congress-affiliated Kerala State Transport Employees Union, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh-affiliated Kerala State Transport Employees Sangh and the Welfare Forum said they were withdrawing the call for a day-long strike.

The decisions were announced by the unions after a two-hour discussion between the Minister and union representatives and the management at the Secretariat here.

R. Sasidharan, working president, TDF, said his union had “postponed” the strike following the assurance given by the Minister.

Initially, the government had sought time to clear the dues in view of the grave financial crisis faced by the transport utility. As the union representatives did not agree to the demand, the Transport Minister gave the assurance in order to avert the strike.

Since the Chairman and Managing Director of KSRTC had issued the order freezing the DA that would incur an additional expenditure of ₹6.5 crore, another order from the government would be needed for giving the DA announced during the regime of the previous United Democratic Front.

Mr. Sasidharan said the unions had promised their cooperation to tide over the crisis. The meeting was informed that the transport utility would not be able to stay afloat in the next two or three months without the financial support of the government and the issue should be taken up with Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac.

The CITU-affiliated Kerala State Road Transport Employees Association (KSRTEA), a recognised union in the KSRTC, did not join the other four unions in the proposed stir.

TDF president Thampanoor Ravi; Mr. Sasidharan; R. Ayyappan, committee member; KSRTEA working president K.K. Divakaran; and Dileep Kumar, committee member; Rahul, general secretary, KSTEU; and Jayachandran of the KST Employees Sangh participated in the talks. Secretary, Transport, K. R. Jyothilal, CMD of KSRTC M.G. Raja Manickam and top officials attended.

Oil bill arrears

The KSRTC needs ₹174.5 crore to pay the salary, two months’ pension and DA. The fuel bill arrears of the KSRTC has also touched ₹132 crore and the oil major is putting pressure on the utility to pay the same.

The government is hoping on the ₹100 crore loan to be procured from banks, including Canara Bank, through the Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation (KTDFC) to disburse partly the salary and pension.

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