Government buses across Karnataka will go off the roads on Tuesday as the state public transport workers have decided to go on an indefinite strike demanding pay revision and payment of pending arrears for the past 38 months.
A two-hour meeting between the Joint Action Committee (JAC) representing workers' associations from all four state-run transport corporations—BMTC, KSRTC, NWKRTC, and KKRTC—and the chief minister ended in a deadlock after the government failed to yield to the demands.
The JAC asked the workers to hold a “protest from home” on Tuesday, despite the Karnataka High Court, on Monday, directing the union to put off their indefinite strike by a day pending negotiations with the state government.
The state government has invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against the transport workers to curb the strike agitators and has also roped in 30,000 private transport vehicles, including buses, maxi cabs, and contract carriages to prevent a transport paralysis across the state. Besides the daily commuters and those travelling to their home town for the upcoming festival (Varamahalakshmi habba) being inconvenienced due to the bus strike, the beneficiaries of ‘Shakti’ scheme (free bus travel for women) will be required to buy tickets.
Long-pending demands
Of the many demands, two different unions have demanded implementation of equal pay under the 7th Pay Commission from January 1, 2024, payment of 38 months’ arrears from January 1, 2020, announcement of labour union elections, and withdrawal of cases filed against employees and their families during similar protests in 2020 and 2021.
According to the JAC, the salary revision takes place every four years. The forum is demanding that the government clear arrears for 38 months—from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2023—which would cost the government Rs 1,785 crore and give a 25 per cent pay hike from January 2024.
"The CM agreed to pay arrears only for 14 months and did not commit to a pay revision. We are left with no choice but to go ahead with our strike. The one-member Sreenivasmurthy Committee too has recommended that the arrears be paid for all 38 months. Also, there is a need to revise the salary from January 2024. The CM suggested that we can have discussions post the upcoming legislature session. We are opposed to it,” said Anant Subba Rao, who is leading the JAC.
Transport Minister R. Ramalinga Reddy said, “The previous BJP government had decided to revise the pay from March 1, 2013. Our government will follow that government notification. Also, there are two factions among the transport unions, which have different sets of demands.”
Further, the minister added that the government had spent around Rs 9,000 crore towards diesel cost and other expenditure during Covid, as per the Sreenivasamurthy Committee, which also recommended a pay revision from January 1, 2022. “So, the CM has agreed to pay the arrears for 14 months, amounting to Rs 718 crore. But the union is demanding arrears for 38 months. Another faction – KSRTC Okkoota—has demanded equal pay (at par with other government employees) instead of the revision every four years. The CM has agreed to conduct an election to the Okkoota and a possible pay revision after review,” said Reddy.
Will strike violate court order
A PIL was filed in the High Court on Monday by some advocates stating that an indefinite strike would “inconvenience” them as they were dependent on public transport. Rao also maintained that the JAC was not made a party to the PIL, and the committee had received no court directive to put off the strike.
Manjunath, convener of JAC, asserted that the strike would not violate any laws as they had given prior intimation to the state government about the strike.
“We gave a memorandum last year informing the government about the strike on December 31, 2024. But the government assured that it would hold discussions post Sankranti (January). Again in July, we informed the government about our protest. We have not violated any norms and the government should stop imposing ESMA against us as it is an anti-democratic law of the British rule.”