Chennai: After the eight-day bus strike that rattled the state in last January, transport unions, which have issued striking notice to the transport department a few days ago, are gearing up to corner the government on a host of issues ranging from disbursal of pending pension to stopping harassment on workers.
Union members warn that they may go on strike before Deepavali festival, if their demands are not paid attention.During the last strike held in January they urged the transport department to increase wage at 2.54 multiply factor.
Transport department said it would increase pay only at 2.44 multiply factor.This prompted workers to go on strike just ahead of Pongal festival and finally the issue reached Madras high court, after which the strike was withdrawn.
A similar situation seems to have emerged at present that too ahead of Deepavali festival, as transport unions have issued a striking no-tice to the department.
M. Shanmugam, general secretary, Labour Progressive Federation, said they had not received any response either from transport department or labour department after they submitted striking notice in the last week.
“Transport workers are facing a lot of issues. A huge amount to the tune of over Rs 5 crore deducted from workers' salaries did not return to emplo-yees,” he said, adding that even the department failed to disburse re-tired employees' pen-sion.
When asked about possibility of strike, “Representatives from major unions will sit and hold talks, if government did not pay special attention on our main demands.”
While transport department officials were not available for comment, R Nandagopal, Commissioner of Labour, told Deccan Chronicle that they have not received any communication from transport department about striking no-tice.
