Hyderabad: By Sunday evening, about 10 striking employees have given their application at the respective depots, stating that they would rejoin their duties as per Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao’s call.
The employees who agreed to return to work include a couple of conductors, drivers, record writers and an assistant manager in the Greater Hyderabad zone. In another development, police officials have said that they would give protection to employees who are willing to rejoin and action would be taken on those who obstruct them.
The union leaders are saying that they would continue their strike, arguing that they were against the Chief Minister’s decision to privatise 5,100 buses.
The latest call by the Chief Minister has put striking employees in a dilemma on whether to continue to fight or give up on the strike. Several employees are undergoing a severe financial crisis, as they were not even paid salary for September, adding to pressure on them to join duties.
One of the employees, on condition of anonymity, said, “All these days, we fought for welfare of employees. Now, the same employees are struggling without salaries during this prolonged strike. The government is not ready to accept all our demands. At this juncture, our options have become limited. We are in a kind of ethical dilemma — whether to continue to fight for all employees or to join back duties for the sake of our families.”
It was also being thought by employees that the salary was intentionally halted by the government so that employees would give up on the strike. The union leaders claim that this “final call to join duties” has been given in an attempt to break the unity of employees.
RTC officials said that they are expecting more drivers to join back the duty by Tuesday, November 5, the last day to rejoin as per Chief Minister Rao’s announcement made on Saturday.
Union leaders are still firm on continuing the strike, saying that a couple of employees joining duties would not affect their strike, or bring down their morale.
“The employees rejoining duties would not even comprise one per cent of over 49,000 striking employees,” said Ashwathama Reddy, convenor, TSRTC JAC. He added that RTC employees were not satisfied, while the government was only concentrating on privatising the TSRTC rather than improving it.
