Karnataka Transport Staff To Go On Strike From August 5

The employees' union of the state-owned transport corporations have decided to go an indefinite strike from August 5 as talks with the Karnataka government failed on Monday.

The Karnataka High Court and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah appealed to the unions to withdraw their protest.

The employees' unions were adamant that their 38 months arrears are paid and a salary hike from January 1, 2024 should be implemented.

A final round meeting took place between CM Siddaramaiah, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy and the representatives of the employees' union on Monday, but nothing conclusive came out.

"Our discussions happened on arrears of 38 months of salary and salary hike from January 1, 2024. Finally, the chief minister said that he would clear two years of arrears and asked us to give up the claim on the remaining two years' arrears. We have not agreed for it. We need 38 months' arrears," KSRTC Staff and Workers' Federation president H V Anantha Subbarao told reporters.

There was no commitment on salary hike from January 1, 2024. "We are not happy. So our strike will start from tomorrow morning," Subbarao said.

The union leader said the KSRTC and BMTC staff will not work until the demands are met.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah appealed to the unions to withdraw their protest.

Several rounds of meetings have already been held with representatives of different transport unions. Issues can be resolved through mutual dialogue. The CM appealed to the unions to withdraw the protest scheduled for tomorrow, a statement issued by Siddaramaiah's office said.

Siddaramaiah said in 2016 when he was in office, a salary revision was implemented with a 12.5 per cent hike.

He blamed the previous BJP government which did not revise the salaries in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"When we assumed power (in 2013), the total debt across all transport corporations was Rs 4,000 crore. In 2018 (when we left office), the pending amount was only Rs 14 crore. Currently, none of the transport corporations are in profit. The government will not be unjust to anyone. All corporations must cooperate," the CM said.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court on Monday asked State-run transport unions to postpone their planned strike by a day to allow time for ongoing discussions between union representatives and CM Siddaramaiah to conclude.

During the hearing, the Division Bench questioned the government on the prolonged delay in wage revision for drivers and conductors, expressing concern over their interests being neglected.

Government counsel and representatives of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) informed the court that a Joint Action Committee (JAC) - representing employees from all four State-run transport corporations - had announced the strike even as conciliation proceedings over the dispute were still in progress under existing legal frameworks. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)