Wage theft? Delay in implementing salary revision infuriates KSRTC staff

Rachana Ramesh

Bengaluru: Transport workers of all the four road transport corporations held demonstrations at Freedom Park in the city and across various bus depots in the state, demanding the mandate wage revision to be conducted. The members of multiple unions organised under the banner of Joint action Committee demanded that the Basic Dearness Allowance should be merged with basic pay and the revised basic pay should be increased by 25 percent for all categories.

They have also asked for the increment to be at least three percent of the revised basic pay. Along with this, they have demanded a formation of a trust on ESI model to ensure free medical treatment for all the employees in multi-speciality hospitals.

H S Manjunath, a union leader, noted that every development that has happened within the corporation has been initiated through the workers’ protests. He said that they have made multiple visits to the transport minister’s home to have their demands heard, but have only received unfulfilled promises in return.

“They say that the corporation does not have any money but it is the government’s fault, not the workers’. They divert crores of our money towards projects like installing cameras and GPS trackers which are not efficiently executed either. Simultaneously, private vehicle initiatives are encouraged, leading to a decrease in our revenue,” he pointed out. He also noted that the workers do not get gratuity or provident funds.

Vijay Bhaskar, Secretary, KSRTC Staff and Workers’ Federation, said that close to 10,000 workers from districts Tumkuru, Bellari, among others have taken part in the agitation by protesting in front of division and central offices. He added that many of their issues do not require the attention of ministers but can be solved by higher authorities alone in the corporation alone.

“Woman staff on Hebbal to Silk board junction need to wait for two hours and yet do not have access to washrooms. Central office needs to take up responsibility and not wait for the chief minister’s approval for everything,” he said.

He noted the many suicides that have taken place in the past few years due to harassment by higher officials. K Prakash, another union leader, highlighted the fear among the workers to mobilise as thousands of workers were dismissed for participating in protests during April 2021.

“The workers dread their daily lives being dismantled if dismissed but they must overcome this fear and stand in solidarity to see through the moves towards privatisation being made by the government,” he said.

One of the demands brought up was also the rehiring of all the staff who were fired by the transport corporations after previous protests. Lingaraju, and Gowramma, security and labour officers paid a visit to the demonstration site and promised to raise the issues with the government.