Transport Minister, trade unions talks end inconclusively, next meeting on Jan 7

CHENNAI: The talks between Transport Minister SS Sivasankar and transport corporation trade unions including LPF, CITU and ATP ended inconclusive on Friday with the unions sticking to their indefinite strike plan from January 9.

After the talks with the trade unions at MTC headquarters here, Sivasankar said that the next round of talks would be held the day after tomorrow (Sunday) as they have to discuss with the finance department certain demands of the unions.

"All the unions including LPF, CITU, AITUC and ATP took part in the talks. They put forward their demands including seeking the commencement of talks for the 15th wage agreement, a hike in dearness allowance for the workers and a DA hike for retired employees. Some of the demands required finance department concurrence for which we have sought a day time and we will meet again on Sunday, " he told reporters.

CITU state president A Soundararajan thanked the Minister for holding talks with the unions as they were looking forward to reaching an amicable settlement through talks from the beginning. "We explained our six demands and sought talks to be held on a fixed time frame. We demanded the corporations to provide four months DA arrears for the workers and hike the DA for the retired employees, " he said.

For the retired employees' DA hike, he said that the unions are not insisting on the immediate payment of the arrears but only the DA hike in their monthly pension.

"Payment of DA arrears can be discussed later. We are ready to provide such concessions to settle. Many workers will get a hike of Rs 4000 to Rs 7000 a month. They don't even have health insurance coverage, " he said, adding that even after that the minister sought time to consult the finance department.

"We will continue our preparation for the January 9th strike, " he announced.