Karnataka government warns KSRTC staff against indefinite strike

Karnataka Bus Strike: Taking a tough stand, the Karnataka government on Tuesday ruled out any negotiations with various Road Transport Corporations employees who decided to go on an indefinite strike from Wednesday, demanding that their salaries be increased in accordance with the sixth pay commission recommendations.

The employees of four different State-run road transport corporations have been demanding that they be brought under the government employees category so that they could receive the benefits of pay commissions in the future too. They had gone on a four-day strike in December last year with the same demand.

After a detailed discussion with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Chief Secretary P. Ravikmar told reporters that there was no question of treating RTC employees as State government employees and implementing the sixth pay commission.

"The government has instead finalised a pay hike of eight per cent to RTC employees which we are ready to implement, but because of the model code of conduct in force due to the bypolls, there is a delay," he said. The Chief Secretary claimed that he had already written to the Election Commission of India seeking its permission to implement the pay hike in light of the proposed indefinite strike from April 7.

"If the ECI permits, the pay hike will be implemented immediately. If not, after the bypolls. But for this we have decided there will be no negotiation and the strike will be dealt with strictly. The Chief Minister is clear on this," he said.

In response to a question, Kumar also dropped enough hints about enforcing the Essential Services Management Act (ESMA). "We are exploring 'every possible action within the legal framework' against the striking employees," he warned.

According to him, all the four transport corporations were reeling under severe losses already due to the drastic fall in occupancy since last year due to the pandemic. "All RTCs combined, the government is incurring a loss of Rs 4 crore every day, " the chief secretary said.