Formation of trade union affiliated to TRS in RTC raises eyebrows

Hyderabad: Even as the State government has declared that there will be no unions in the TSRTC, a new trade union in the name of 'TRS Udyogula Sangham' is being formed.

The employees have been asked to attend a meeting at the residence of Nalgonda MLA K Bhoopal Reddy for saving the Corporation.

The State government has declared that there will be no unions in the TSRTC for a period of two years.

The TSRTC had Telangana Mazdoor Union (TMU) as an affiliated union to the ruling party TRS. However, after the workers resorted to strike in the Corporation, the ruling party decided to move away from the union activities asking its honorary president and Minister T Harish Rao to resign from the union.

However, a new union claiming to be from the ruling party is going to be formed soon. An invite has been doing rounds among the RTC employees asking them to attend a meeting at the office of Nalgonda MLA K Bhoopal Reddy on August 18.

The other unions in the Corporation are now raising questions over the formation of a new union from the ruling party when the government itself has banned unions. RTC Telangana Employees Union general secretary K Raji Reddy questioned whether there was any need for a TRS union in RTC when the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had said that there would be no unions in the Corporation. He said that TRSKV president Rambabu has been trying to form a union for the last ten months and now come out open by announcing a meeting on August 18. Can the new union of the ruling party provide wage revisions, which are pending?

He questioned whether the government wants to take up elections only after the formation of the TRS affiliated union.

RTC Telangana Jathiya Mazdoor Union leader K Hanumanthu said though it is good that another union is formed but the TMU was also a union affiliated to the ruling party.

He said that the government formed welfare committees to address the issues of the workers but these committees don't even have powers to have agreements. "Is this an attempt by some TRS leaders or it has backing from the Chief Minister? The Chief Minister should answer this," said Hanumanthu.