No talks yet, transport staff threaten strike

Though government had already assured that issues will come to an end by November, the members threaten that they may go on strike after the Assembly session is over, if officials fail to meet them.

Natarajan, treasurer of Labour Progressive Front (LPF), said, “We are waiting for the government officials to provide date for holding talks. However, if there is no call after the current Assembly session, we may have to take a stern decision.” 

He added, though the government officials have already informed the union leaders that they would form a committee and a leader from each of the unions will be made a member to speed up the talks, to end the matter, still there was no breakthrough.

Veeraragavan, joint secretary of Tamil Nadu State Transport Retired Employees Association, stressed that all the arrears should be cleared within a month. 

“The state government should consider calling for a meet and it should not postpone the meeting in the name of ongoing Assembly session. We expect the transport department to release considerable arrears soon,” he said and added that the government had assured that all the issues would be settled before November, but it could be achieved only through talks. 

When contacted, V Krishnamurthy, Managing Director of MTC and head of the government panel, told DTNext, “The union leaders have already met transport minister MR Vijayabhaskar and other officials. We are planning to hold a meeting with sub-committee possibly next week and chances are high to finalise the demands put forth by the union leaders in the next meeting itself.”