In a move that will drastically cut the powers of the largest union of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) workers, the State government has removed the BEST Undertaking from the ambit of the Bombay Industrial Relations (BIR) Act, 1946.
The government resolution (GR) to this effect issued on Friday effectively strips the BEST Workers’ Union of the mantle of the sole recognised trade union in the BEST’s transport wing, and its counterpart in the electricity supply wing.
BEST committee member Sunil Ganacharya said the proposal to remove the undertaking from the purview of the Act was already in the works. “Under the Act, the administration was compelled to discuss any changes first with the union and then implement them. Now it will be able to make whatever changes it wants. If the union does not like it, they continue to have the legal route, but it will be after the implementation of the change,” he said.
Shashank Rao, general secretary of the BEST Workers’ Union, had spearheaded a historic nine-day bus strike in January. One of the workers’ key demands was to initiate talks for a new wage agreement. The union had also threatened to go on strike after August 6 if the talks did not commence. However, Friday’s developments add a new twist to the tale as the union has to now prove its majority before the administration can invite it to talks for wage negotiations.
Mr. Rao has blamed the Shiv Sena for the move and calling it a betrayal of BEST workers. The Shiv Sena-backed BEST Kamgar Sena is the second-largest union among BEST workers in the transport wing. The strike dealt a severe blow to the Sena and its union after its attempt to break the protest failed. Union sources said that after the strike ended, several workers in the Kamgar Sena had pledged allegiance to the BEST Workers’ Union.
A BEST official said the registration process was currently under way and is expected to end on July 31. “Whenever, there is a fresh registration in any union or a worker wants to move from one union to the other, he needs to intimate the administration regarding the move. The process takes around three months, after which the headcount of each union is declared,” he said.
BEST officials said that after Friday’s development, the BEST Workers’ Union will effectively need to prove that it represents a majority of the workers for it to conduct wage negotiations with the administration.
