The State Transport Corporation employees’ two-day-old indefinite strike in Tamil Nadu has been temporarily called off by the trade unions. The decision comes in response to a request from the Madras High Court.
The CITU and Anna Thozhirsanga Peravai (ATP) unions provided an assurance to Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy that they would temporarily suspend the strike until 19 January. This date marks a scheduled conciliation meeting to address the matter of unfreezing the dearness allowance for retired STC employees before the Labour Commissioner.
Senior counsel Vijay Narayan, representing CITU and ATP, stated that the unions would refrain from the strike considering the public interest during the Pongal festival. The bench acknowledged this commitment and confirmed that the workers would resume their duties starting from the following day. The Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran assured that there would be no victimisation or disciplinary action against the striking workers.
Although the petitioner, Paul Kithion, sought to have the strike declared illegal and unconstitutional, the bench did not make such a declaration. However, they expressed the opinion that the trade unions could have waited for the conciliation process scheduled for 19 January. Emphasising the state’s responsibility for providing public transport, the bench noted the possibility of legitimate action against striking workers engaging in illegal activities.
The AAG initially rejected the suggestion of providing an ad-hoc amount of Rs 2000 for January to each of the 82,000 retired employees. However, he later relented, expressing the state’s commitment to resolving issues between the STC
and the employees.
