Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Oct 18, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Oct 18, 2005 |
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Trade & Labour Unions APSRTC strike from today — Govt, unions fail to reach compromise Our Bureau
Hyderabad , Oct. 17 ABOUT 1.19 lakh employees of the Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) are set to strike work from Monday midnight, with the unions and the Government sticking to their guns. At a meeting organised at the Bus Bhavan (the headquarters of the corporation) here on Monday, the leaders of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of RTC (road transport corporation) unions had sent a clear message that there was no going back on the strike call. "We will not budge until our demands are met. We are not afraid of ESMA (Essential Services Maintenance Act)," he said. Braving rain, a few hundred workers gathered at the meeting and yelled `yes' when asked by their leaders whether they were afraid of ESMA. The last two days of negotiations between the Government and JAC gave the impression that a solution could be possible, with JAC relenting on certain demands. Meanwhile, the State Government has appealed to the RTC employees not go ahead with the strike call. The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who is in New Delhi, cautioned the workers that the corporation could not take any more burden. The corporation has accumulated losses of around Rs 1,350 crore. "Passengers might get attracted to private operators. Once we lose occupancy rates, it will be very difficult to retain," he said. The Chief Minister listed the various steps taken by the Government to come to the rescue of the ailing corporation. He also reminded commissioning a study by the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore) to advise the corporation on reviving its fortunes. "We have agreed to increase salaries by five per cent from April regardless of the financial position of the corporation," he said. But the employees insisted that the increase should be effected this year itself. The Government has stepped up efforts to put in place alternative arrangements, as most of the 19,000 RTC buses are likely to go off roads from Tuesday. The corporation reaches out to over 24,000 villages every day, carrying 1.17 crore passengers. The Government claims it has roped in 9,000 buses and 4,000 drivers to lessen the strike effect. In a statement, the South Central Railway announced that it would run special trains in view of the strike. The special trains will be run on the Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam, Tirupati-Visakhapatnam, Kacheguda-Bangalore, Secunderabad-Kurnool, and Secunderabad-Warangal routes.
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