Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) employees’ strike looms large with leaders of another union set to serve a strike notice on the management on Thursday (May 9).
The APSRTC Employees Union (EU), which has a tie-up with other unions in the corporation, has formed a Joint Action Committee (JAC) representing them. The JAC plans to meet on Thursday morning before serving the notice on the management.
They are demanding payment of 40 % fitment allowance and the ₹285 crore the management had reportedly diverted from the employees’ Cooperative Credit Society (CCS) besides withdrawal of the proposal to include more hired buses in the fleet and downsize workforce“on some pretext or the other”.
“In 2014, the APSRTC had a 64,000-strong workforce which was scaled down to 53,000. This is a result of vacancies not being filled. Every year, nearly 2,000 employees retire. Besides, plans are afoot to lay off another 4,000 employees to block promotions. Several employees working for more than 30 years in the corporation would have to retire without a promotion,” said P. Damodar, general secretary of the JAC.
Contract staff
Moreover, he added, in addition to the 50 % outsourced maintenance workers in garages, the management planned to lay off the remaining staff and replace them with outsourced employees.
Meanwhile, leaders of the National Mazdoor Union (NMU) have assailed the management on another front. They served a strike notice on it on Wednesday demanding takeover of the corporation by the government.
“Our demands are more or less the same but we have been functioning independently since the beginning and will continue to do so,” said NMU general secretary Y. Srinivasa Rao.
Both unions have threatened a strike after May 22.
As regards the management’s plan to induct more hired buses, Mr. Damodar said, “The APSRTC fleet comprises 23% hired buses already. The plan is to increase it to 35 %, which will take away jobs of 4,000 workers.”