Bus strike tomorrow

A majority of buses operated by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation and other state-run transport units are likely to go off the roads from Thursday as workers seem set to strike. A joint committee of five workers’ unions consisting of close to 1.1 lakh employees has declared an indefinite strike in the state from Thursday.

They have accused the government and management of refusing to heed their repeated calls for discussions over wage revision over the past few years.

“For 16 years now, there have been no negotiations for wage revision with the unions. They have announced unilateral wage hikes and have made all efforts to disband unions,” said H V Anantha Subba Rao, spokesman for the joint committee.

However, the Transport Department Employees and Retired Employees Association Welfare Federation on Tuesday said they would not extend their support to the strike by KSRTC’s joint action committee. They said the strike would inconvenience the public.