An indefinite strike called by 11 transport unions, representing nearly 1.4 lakh employees, has crippled the government bus service across Tamil Nadu with almost 70 per cent of the buses remaining off the roads on Sunday. The state is witnessing a massive strike in the transport sector almost after 13 years. A majority of the employees have joined the protest seeking the implementation of wage revision pending from September 2013 and non-payment of other benefits, including bonus and pension, for several years. Within hours after employees called off the services on Sunday, police started a major crackdown arresting over 100 workers in Chennai alone. More police forces have been deployed to arrest striking employees from different bus terminals across the state, said a senior police officer. “Out of more than 22,000 services a day, less than 1,000 services ran services on Sunday as per the information from various depots in the state. In Chennai alone, over 2,000 bus services were cancelled by Sunday afternoon,” said an official of the transport department. Eleven trade unions including one of the largest unions, DMK’s Labour Progressive Front (LPF), CITU and INTUC are all taking part in the strike. Meanwhile, the trade union supported by ruling AIADMK announced that they will be working overtime to maintain the services. CITU state general secretary A Sounderrajan said the strike will continue till the state government respond to their demands. M Shanmugham, leader of LPF said the government was forcing its employees to go on a strike by ignoring their repeated efforts to discuss issues. “Had they met us and gave assurances, we would not have gone for an indefinite strike. We have no option other than going for an indefinite strike when the state government continues to ignore our demands,” he said. Opposition parties too have extended their solidarity with the striking employees. Stating that the demand of employees were genuine and the government should arrive at an amicable settlement, DMK chief M Karunanidhi blamed the AIADMK government for failing to respond to the demands of workers at the right time. State Congress chief EVKS Elangovan and MDMK chief Vaiko have also sought immediate intervention from Chief Minister O Panneerselvam to end the strike considering the difficulties faced by passengers across the state. M Chandran, vice president of the state transport federation (CITU) said the strike will be intensified on Monday with more number of employees joining the strike. “Besides drivers and conductors, other employees, including staff from the technical department, have all joined the protest,” he added.
