Report by KEC correspondent
From October 28, over one lakh workers of all the 250 ST depots in Maharashtra overcame all barriers of affiliation and went on an indefinite strike demanding the merger of the MSRTC with the state government. While the government workers receive salary as per the 7th Pay Commission, salaries of MSRTC workers are not even in line with the 4th Pay Commission.
From October 28, over one lakh workers of all the 250 ST depots in Maharashtra overcame all barriers of affiliation and went on an indefinite strike demanding the merger of the MSRTC with the state government. While the government workers receive salary as per the 7th Pay Commission, salaries of MSRTC workers are not even in line with the 4th Pay Commission. Hence their demand of the merger has been raised.
The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) is the largest state government undertaking in Maharashtra with a fleet of 18,849 buses and almost a lakh employees. Before the pandemic it used to carry more than 80 lakh passengers daily. It serves all the cities, towns and most of the villages of the state and also runs services to a few neighbouring states. The ST, as it is popularly called plays a very important role in the lives of the people, particularly of villagers, as the only means of transport, and the workers who run it are their friends.
The demand of MSRTC workers is not only just but would also defeat the government’s plan of privatisation of public road transport. Over the years the government has been moving in the direction of privatisation by promoting private carriers at the cost of the state transport (ST) services.
The state government has made all the attempts to break the strike by engaging private buses instead of satisfying their legitimate demand.
When its workers decided to go on an indefinite strike, thousands of people supported them, as we have reported earlier (https://aifap.org.in/support-to-st-workers-demands-86000-electricity-workers-engineers-and-officers-support-st-workers-strike/)
Friends & comrades, I fully support the legitimate demands of ST workers. Nowadays, in newspapers and in many news on TV, ST workers are held responsible for the problems faced by the ST commuters. This is neither the first time nor the last time that those in power are instigating workers and consumers against each other. If any sensible person studies the demands of ST laborers properly, then he will surely understand that in reality their demands are in the interest of the broad masses. As stated in the KEC report, all the capitalist governments want to corporatize every public sector first and hand them over to private profiteers at a penny prices. The government of Mahavikas Aaghadi is also no exception to this. All of us workers, whether they are in railways or banks or in any other field, should support the ST workers in this struggle by taking lessons from the electricity workers.
Long live workers unity!
Say no to Privatisation!