RTC unions join forces for pay hike

RTC unions join forces for pay hike
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Highlights

The APSRTC is getting ready for a showdown if the management does not agree for a salary hike on par with the government employees of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Both these governments had recently announced a fitment of 43 percent.

demand for 43 per cent fitment

Hyderabad: The APSRTC is getting ready for a showdown if the management does not agree for a salary hike on par with the government employees of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Both these governments had recently announced a fitment of 43 percent.

The RTC employees unions of the two states who have been differing with each other on various issues after the bifurcation have interestingly come together on this issue and have jointly handed over a memorandum to the RTC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director N Sambasiva Rao on Monday.

Unions are seeking pay parity with government employees

The leaders of AP Employees Union (EU) and Telangana Mazdoor Union (TMU) have also formed a joint action committee ‘EU-TMU Alliance’ for achieving their demands. The unions demanded the Managing Director to immediately call for the meeting of Pay Revision Committee. It also called upon the MD to inform the two state governments about the amount of money that would be required for fitment and other allowances and fringe benefits.

They said the APSRTC should act fast since both governments were in the process of finalising the budget proposals for 2015-16. According to the unions, a pay revision is due since April 1, 2013 as salaries of RTC employees are revised every four years. Though 22 months have passed, their wages have not been revised so far, according to General Secretary of EU K Padmakar.

Talking to The Hans India, Padmakar said that as a first step they have submitted a memorandum to the MD and if no concrete action is taken by the Managing Director within a week, they would meet again and chalk out next course of action.” General Secretaries of EU and TMU, K Padmakar and E Ashwatthama Reddy, respectively, said that they have already told the employees to gear up for the strike in case the management does not respond favourably.

Of the 1,20,000 employees in the RTC, 70,000 are working in AP and 50,000 employees are working in Telangana. They said for the unions of both the states, pay revision was high on priority. Bifurcation of the corporation is likely to take more time and they are not willing to wait till then. Already the employees have lost 22 months, they said.

The RTC management on the other hand contends that the Corporation was already suffering from losses of over Rs1, 500 crore and any immediate pay hike would push them into greater financial burden . However, they will have no objection for pay revision if both the state governments come forward to bear the burden and help the RTC, a senior official added.

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