RTC Strike From May 7

The TGSRTC JAC today gave a call for an indefinite strike from May 7 demanding the fulfiling of its demands.

It communicated the decision after a round table conference with the representatives of national trade unions in the city.

Among its various demands, the JAC demanded the merger of the RTC employees with the State government.

It said that in 2023, the then BRS government had published a gazette notification stating that the TGSRTC employees were being merged with the State government, and added that the Congress government that came to power later too had promised in its manifesto that the merger would be done.

"However, even after 17 months, the merger has not taken place. In addition, even after the 2017 wage revision, the dues due to the employees have not been paid even today. The wage revision was only partial. The new allowances have not been implemented. The 2021 and 2025 wage revisions have not yet been implemented for the workers. Also, even though the Congress government promised to revive the trade unions in the RTC, that promise has not been implemented till today," the JAC said.

It also said that the Union government was supplying electric buses to the RTCs on rent through the FAME scheme, and that the move had put the existence of the RTC at risk. It demanded that the Union and State governments provide the electric buses to the RTC directly through the same scheme.

The JAC also complained that drivers and conductors had lost their jobs even for minor mistakes. "Many conductors have lost their jobs due to minor mistakes in the Mahalakshmi scheme. The management is also removing drivers from their jobs claiming they are driving when drunk, when the issue is that the breathalyzer tests are being conducted by using devices with technical flaws," it said.

The JAC also said that about 17,000 employees had retired from 2014 to date, and that due to the failure to appoint new people to replace the retired workers, the current workers were being subject to a heavy workload.

"Due to the increase in workload, some drivers are collapsing on the steering wheel. Some conductors are suffering from debilitating diseases like paralysis. There are terrible conditions in the RTC where a driver has to do his duty for 500 to 600 kilometres. A situation has arisen where women conductors cannot go home after getting off duty in the middle of the night. The management is harassing some drivers and conductors filing complaints of insubordination. Since the management, the government and the Labour Commissioner did not respond, the JAC has decided to go on strike from the first duty on May 7 in the early hours of the morning to resolve the labour issues," the JAC said.