The BMRCL employees' union has decided to defy warnings of the management and go ahead with their plan for a strike on March 22. The union maintained that the proposed strike will be withdrawn if the management agrees to address their grievances before March 22.
Suryanarayana Murthy, vice-president of the union, said that despite serving a notice on the proposed strike on March 7, they have not heard anything from the management.
Mr. Murthy said, “During the last strike, the management had assured that all grievances of the employees would be resolved but till date they have not delivered on their promise. Various issues need to be resolved, like recognising the union, wage revision, grievance redressal of employees and working condition. The management has given a warning that ESMA would be imposed if employees go on a strike. We are waiting for intervention of the management at the earliest.”
An employee said, “The wage disparity between BMRCL and other metros is very huge. The permanent employees of the BMRCL are humiliated on a daily basis. The irony is that all the permanent employees are supervised by contract employees who were appointed by flouting norms. We want the BMRCL to stop appointing supervisory staff on contractual basis and stop the harassment.”
On Thursday, the BMRCL had warned of stringent action if employees resort to a strike and disrupt operations.
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Metro service disruptions
The BMRCL, in a release, said that services on both Purple and Green lines will be closed 45 minutes earlier on Saturday (March 10) to carry out maintenance work. The services from the terminal stations — Nagasandra, Yelachenahalli, Baiyappanahalli and Mysuru Road — will end at 10.15 p.m. instead of 11 p.m.
On Sunday (March 11), services on both the lines will commence at 10.30 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. from the departing stations.
