Hyderabad: To protest the delay in resolving their main demand to merge the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) with the government, RTC employees unions have declared a strike from October 5 — three days before Dasara when lakhs of passengers travel from the city to their native places.
There are more than 50,000 employees from various recognised and unrecognised unions of the RTC. The merger has been a long-pending demand, and the TS staff is aggrieved that the Andhra Pradesh government is moving forward in this regard, while the TS government is not.
K. Raji Reddy of the RTC Employees Union said, “The welfare of the drivers and conductors should be given priority. About 7,000 employees have retired over the years but the RTC has not recruited a single new employee.”
Hanumantha Mudiraj from the Telangana Jathiya Mazdoor Union (TJMU) said, “Some drivers and conductors are being forced to work for 12 to 16 hours when we are supposed to work only up to eight hours per day. This is due to lack of staff.”
The staff will stage a hunger strike on Monday at Dharna Chowk and a series of meetings are scheduled between Octo-ber 1 and October 4. So-me unions have arrang-ed a conciliation meeting with the labour commissioner on October 4 to try and avoid the strike.
