The strike by workers of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) will continue on Wednesday as no headway was achieved in talks on Tuesday. The administration told the unions that no discussions can be possible until the strike is on.
However, in a late development, the Shiv Sena-affiliated BEST Kamgar Sena said it will run 500 buses with security on Wednesday. But BEST Workers’ Union leader Shashank Rao said the strike is on regardless of the Sena’s decision. “Let them run the buses. They were never part of the strike to begin with and had even written a letter to the administration stating the same. Several of their members took part on Tuesday,” he said.
Union sources said there was a split within the Kamgar Sena and a large faction had decided to go on with the protest.
The strike called by the BEST Sanyukta Kamgar Kruti Samiti (BSKKS), a joint action committee of various unions, started at midnight. It was total and no BEST buses left any of the 27 depots in the city. Only 18 drivers and seven conductors turned up for work.
Surendrakumar Bagde, general manager, BEST, said, “We are willing to have a discussion on all their demands and have asked them to end their strike.”
He said they will start taking disciplinary action against the protesting workers under the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA).
The BSKKS is demanding a merger of the BEST budget with the BMC’s primary budget and initiation of talks on a new wage agreement, which has been pending since April 2016. They are also demanding the wage scale of employees recruited since 2007 brought at par with older BEST employees. “These are not matters that can be resolved in a few days. We need to have detailed discussions and it is possible only if the strike is withdrawn,” Mr. Bagde said.
Mr. Bagde said the issues need to be discussed in a comprehensive manner which is in line with the revival plan of the transport division, which includes procuring 450 buses under the wet lease model that the unions are opposed to. Union officials said the administration is using the issue of wet-leasing as a blackmailing tactic and not discussing the real issues affecting workers.
Representatives of the BSKKS met the BMC commissioner, BMC standing committee chairman, BEST general manager, and the BEST committee chairman.
Jagnarayan Kahar, general secretary, BEST Kamgar Sangathan, said the meeting yielded no results and they will be going ahead with the strike.
“The management said having talks with us would be a contempt of court. The BMC commissioner said matters related to the wage agreement and bonus need to be discussed at the BEST administration level,” he said.
