Thiruvanathapuram: The trade unions have lashed out at the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) for its move to pay employee salaries in proportion to the monthly target.
Trade unions including CITU and INTUC have slammed the KSRTC management for violating labour laws.
S Vinod, general secretary of the KSRTC Employees’ Association (CITU), said that though the union had supported the fixing of targets for enhanced revenue in depots, making this as the basis for paying salary would not be accepted.
"Though we supported the targets to improve the revenue generation, we will not allow them to use it as a yardstick for payment of salaries," Vinod said.
"There is a constant effort to show that the Corporation is without funds," he said.
He added that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan failed to fulfil his promise of paying KSRTC employees their salaries by the 5th of every month.
Vinod also alleged that the huge purchase of spare parts by the KSRTC amid a financial crisis was suspicious.
Transport Democratic Federation (TDF) working president M Vincent, MLA, and Drivers Union president V S Sivakumar said that the labour laws were being sabotaged in the KSRTC.
The Corporation had decided to pay salary in proportion to the revenue target realised every month.
Employees will be paid the whole salary on the 5th of every month if they realise 100 per cent of their target. If only 80 per cent target is achieved, a commensurate amount will be deposited in their accounts on the 5th.
Transport Minister Antony Raju said that the Corporation will decide a target after considering the the number of crew. The bus-employee ratio will be crucial in determining the targets.
The management will meet the trade unions on Wednesday to discuss the issue.
The Kerala High Court is also considering the case on KSRTC salary payment on Wednesday.
January salary unpaid
The salary for January is yet to be disbursed even as the six-month period for which the government had earlier assured Rs 50 crore monthly aid in this regard ended last month.
The management had promised to pay the January salary by today (Feb 15); however it is unlikely to be fulfilled. The Transport Department has issued an order for obtaining a loan of Rs 10 crore from the Transport Workers Cooperative Society, which is a cooperative society of the KSRTC employees.
However, the society’s governing board informed the KSRTC MD that the loan could not be sanctioned merely on the basis of the Transport Department’s order and that a directive from the Registrar of Cooperatives was also required for the purpose. The MD asked the office-bearers of the board to sanction the loan today itself if it could be done based only on the order of the Transport Department.
The governing board is dominated by members of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).
