The workers’ unions of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking are planning to hold a major demonstration on Monday at the Wadala depot as a show of strength, and to bring the attention of the government to their demands.
BEST Sanyukt Kruti Samiti, an umbrella body of several BEST unions, had conducted a poll across all BEST depots on Friday to get the workers’ mandate on the question of whether or not to go on strike. Nearly 98% of all workers affiliated to various unions of the BEST’s transport wing voted in favour of going on another strike to press their demands.
“Out of the 17,925 workers who participated in the poll, 17,497 voted in favour of the strike, while 368 were against it and 60 were undecided,” a union official said. In December 2018, a similar poll was conducted to ascertain the sentiment among workers where over 14,000 workers of 15,000 who participated in the poll voted in favour of the strike, which then resulted in the historic nine-day strike in January.
Union officials said the Shiv Sena-backed BEST Kamgar Sena had made announcements that they would be securing a new wage settlement which will bring workers’ salaries on par with the Seventh Pay Commission. “Hence we have decided to wait until Tuesday, since that’s when they have said the agreement will be finalised,” a union official said.
‘No headway’
BEST unions have been threatening to go on a strike as no headway has been made in wage negotiation talks, which have been pending since 2016. In a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the BEST Workers’ Union, the largest union of transport department workers, the BEST administration, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, it was agreed that fresh wage agreement talks will commence.
However, union officials said the administration is simply biding its time with no concrete proposals coming from their end.
