Office-bearers of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation Employees’ Union, which represents an estimated 65,000 employees across the State, has called off its proposed indefinite strike.
Union president Ch. Chandrasekhar Reddy made this announcement following fruitful discussions with Assistant Commissioner of Labour Suryaprasad at his office here on Wednesday. The strike notice was served on on December 24 last year.
The demands include action on the non-compliance with points agreed upon in the settlement reached between the union and management on September 11. Prime among them are immediate steps to bifurcate the corporation according to the the A.P. Re-organisation Act and implementation of all the points negotiated in the agreement, including release of DA arrears.
Of the seven months of DA pending, it was agreed that 50 per cent of it would be released to the employees on January 12 and the rest would be paid together along with March salary payable in April.
As for reimbursement of money that was diverted from the Cooperative Credit Society to the tune of Rs. 100 crore, the management will release Rs. 30 crore now and the rest will be returned by February-end, together with an assurance that such practices would be given up in future. As for similar diversions from the Staff Benevolent Trust and under the Staff Retirement Benefit Scheme and used by management for everyday operations in the past four months, too a decision was taken by the management.