As thousands of Telangana RTC employees returned to their duties on Friday with a lot of relief on their face, it was a big setback for Telangana RTC employees’ union leaders.
The RTC management has decided against admitting the union leaders back into the duties, as the Telangana government refused to pardon the leaders who provoked the employees to take up the strike.
While welcoming chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's decision to take back all the employees into the work, convenor of JAC of TSRTC employees’ unions E Ashwathama Reddy condemned the cancellation of duties of the union leaders. “This is atrocious. We shall approach the labour commissioner seeking justice,” he said.
Reddy pointed out that the unions not only look into the worker's issues but also join the duties if necessary. He demanded that elections be held for the RTC unions. He also asked the government to put up a referendum and ask the workers if there was a need of unions.
The JAC leaders extended apologies to the public for causing inconvenience to them during the 52-day strike. He also extended condolences to the bereaved families and termed the workers' death as unfortunate during the strike.
Meanwhile, KCR decided to have a meeting with RTC workers from all the 97 depots in the state on December 1 over lunch at Pragati Bhavan.
He invited five members from each depot and instructed the RTC management to make arrangements for their travel to attend the meeting. Out of five members, at least two members should be women. The chief minister will interact personally with workers after the lunch.
As expected, there is no invitation for the union leaders for the lunch programme.