Trade unions call off strike till January 19 conciliatory talks
He said that the government has refused to pay ad-hoc payment of Rs 2000 to pensioners on the High Court's suggestion.
Madras High Court (File)
CHENNAI: The trade unions in the State Transport undertakings called off their two-day-old indefinite strike heeding the Madras High Court's request to suspend the strike till conciliatory talks on January 19 and considering the suffering of the general public who depend on public transport for travel during the Pongal festival.
"We have decided to suspend the strike. Let us see what the government has to say after the Pongal. After January 19th, we will continue the other forms of protest if the talks fail to yield desired results. If needed, after giving due time, we will resort to strike again, " CITU state president A Soundararajan told reporters after consulting with trade unions here.
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He said that the government has refused to pay ad-hoc payment of Rs 2000 to pensioners on the High Court's suggestion.
"It makes us think that there seems to be a change in the government's policy. We don't know whether the government wants to remove the dearness allowance itself. We see a policy change in the government as they seek to recruit workers on a contract basis and outsourcing, " he said.
AIADMK's Anna Thozhir Sanga Peravai secretary Kamalakannan said that considering the court's direction, the strike would be called off temporarily till January 19. "We will continue the strike after January 19 if the government fails to hike the DA, " he declared.
The unions resorted to strike demanding fulfilment of a six-point-charter of demands including a DA hike for retired employees, the commencement of 15th wage agreement talks, 18 months of DA arrears for workers and filling up vacancies.
Earlier, hundreds of transport corporation workers including CITU state president A Soundararajan were arrested by the police on Wednesday when they attempted to lay siege to the MTC depot on Pallavan Salai as part of the indefinite strike called by several trade unions including CITU and ATP.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister SS Sivasankar said that 98.36 per cent of the buses were operated across the state by all eight State Transport Undertakings.