Mumbai: The employees of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking have threatened to go on a strike from October 9, pending fulfillment of their demands.
Last month, BEST workers voted to decide whether or not to strike work. Ninety-eight per cent workers had then voted in favour of a strike. The Sanyukta Kaamgar Kruti Samiti (the workers’ union) had staged a hunger strike outside the Wadala depot from August 27 to 28 to draw the attention of the administration towards their demands.
But former chief minister Narayan Rane had intervened and asked the workers to call off their strike and wait until Ganeshotsav concluded.
The employees’ demands included immediate implementation of the wage agreement and a 10 per cent salary hike for junior grade employees which has been pending since April 2016 and the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations.
In January, the BEST employees had gone on a nine-day-long strike, hitting Mumbaikars hard. At that time, 14,461 of the 15,211 employees had voted for a strike.
