Transport trade unions called off their strike on Wednesday, bringing relief to lakhs of commuters after the government agreed to form a committee to discuss wage revision.
The decision was taken at a meeting between Transport Minister V Senthil Balaji and leaders of 11 unions including the Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) and CITU, at the Secretariat on Wednesday.
The government agreed to constitute a tripartite committee for conducting negotiations on wage revision.
The committee, to be headed by the Transport Minister and to consist of representatives from the Revenue and Transport Departments, is expected to be formed in two days.
“The unions will discuss 28 demands with the committee,” said A. Soundararajan, general secretary, CITU, after the meeting.
The State government has agreed to release the transport employees, who took part in the protest for the past four days and were arrested, said A. Soundararajan, general secretary, CITU.
Govt. to release transport staff
At the meeting held between Transport Minister V Senthil and leaders of 11 unions including, the Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) and CITU, at the Secretariat here on Wednesday, the Minister gave this assurance, he said.
“The Minister has assured that those who were detained on charges of damaging public property will be brought out on bail. The cases against them will be dropped after a discussion with the Chief Minister. This is a victory for the unity of employees,” Mr. Soundararajan said.
According to the union leaders, around 22,000 protestors have been detained across the State and nearly 3,000 in Chennai. “Bus services will be fully restored by Thursday evening as the drivers and conductors who were arrested have to be released,” said K. Natarajan of the LPF.
LPF submits letter
“The LPF submitted a letter on Tuesday stating that it did not have any problem in inviting other unions for the talks. Subsequently the Minister called us for meeting,” Mr. Soundararajan said. According to officials, the strike could have been averted, had the LPF given the letter earlier.
Commuters heaved a sigh of relief after hearing that bus services would be restored. “I left home at 8 a.m. I waited till 10.45 a.m for a bus to Parry’s Corner. All buses were going without signboards. It is good that the strike has come to an end,” said Anand Kumar of T. Nagar.
By Wednesday evening, the frequency of MTC services in the city improved considerably.
