Vacancies cause stress to busmen, deliberately delayed say workers

“He was only 31 and had no health complications. It is the work-related stress that led to his death,” said a colleague at KK Nagar depot. MTC workers attribute the work stress to the ever-increasing workload due to the large number of vacancies. About 4,000 workers retire from service every year but these vacancies have not been filled in the past five year, alleged workers.

A driver from Ambattur terminus claimed he has been working without leave for the past three months due to manpower shortage, adding that he was called in even on his weekly day off. Workers complain that the depot managers refuse to grant leave even for family medical emergencies.

“If a driver or conductor is getting married, they will not grant leave for more than a week. It is the same case for death in the family. Many have leave credit that runs to hundreds of days but are not allowed to avail it,” alleged workers.

As on March 31, the manpower strength in the eight State Transport Corporations including MTC is 1.31 lakh, while fleet strength is 21,542. In March 2017, the staff strength was 1.43 lakh and fleet strength at 22,533.

An MTC conductor with 25 years’ service said labour shortage did not crop up all of a sudden. It has gradually gotten worse over the past decade. “Transport is a labour-oriented industry. Earlier, there were 7.5 workers per vehicle, including drivers, conductors, technicians, supervisors and administrative persons. But over the years, the number of workers per vehicle came down to six persons per vehicle. This has created labour shortage, leading to denial of leave for workers, which in turn increased the stress,” he said.

DMK-affiliated MTC Labour Progressive Welfare Union general secretary K Natarajan said the shortage was getting worse each year, as vacancies caused by retirements were not being filled up. “Each vacancy means the workers have to stretch themselves to meet the constantly increasing workflow requirements. Drivers, too, end up losing their leave days. This is the case of all the eight transport corporations,” he said.

Natarajan said MTC management has introduced 12-hour shift from 8 am to 8 pm for the crew. “How can a person drive continuously for 12 hours a day for an entire week? Invariably, he will be forced to work even more,” he said.

M Chandran of the CITU affiliated union said the increase in the workload affects the health of the workers. “Imagine continuously driving in the city for an entire shift in heavy traffic. It will be very difficult for the drivers to continuously focus if they are not allowed to take rest between shifts,” he said.

However, when asked, a senior MTC official denied the allegations that workers were being denied leave.

A senior Transport Department official claimed that the manpower has not come down in the corporations, as the number of buses have also come down. “Since 2011, 37,782 persons were appointed in various post in the Transport Corporations. We have been recruiting and regularising those working on contract basis to fill up the vacancies,” the official said.