Mumbaikars should brace for commuting woes as over 30,000 employees of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking will be on an indefinite strike from Monday midnight.
No consensus was reached during talks between the BEST Sanyukta Kamgar Kruti Samiti (BSKKS), a joint-action committee of BEST unions, and the BEST management on Monday. Union officials said the general manager of the undertaking was not present, and it was held with a personnel officer. Jagnarayan Kahar, general secretary, BEST Kamgar Sangathan, said the meeting was a sham.
The BSKKS is demanding the merger of the BEST budget with the BMC’s primary budget. It also wants the administration to start a new wage agreement, which has been pending since April 2016. They also demand that the wage scale of employees recruited since 2007 be brought on par with older employees.
The BEST administration threatened to invoke the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) and take action against striking workers. The administration also approached the industrial court, which asked the unions to refrain from the strike. Shashank Rao, leader of BEST Workers Union, however, said the strike is on.
The BEST is the second-largest public transport undertaking, ferrying over 25 lakh commuters and with 3,337 buses plying every day.
BEST Kamgar Sena, the labour union of the Shiv Sena, has kept itself away from the strike, but has not opposed it, Suhas Samant, BEST committee member and leader of the union, said.
Ravi Raja, leader of Opposition in the BMC and a BEST committee member, said, the worst-affected will be commuters.
It will be difficult to invoke the MESMA , he said. “This is not a flash strike. They gave a notice and conducted an internal election to decide whether or not to go on strike.”
On December 20, 2018, the BSKKS conducted a poll across all depots, in which over 95% of BEST employees voted in favour of a strike, after which a formal declaration was made.
