Demands not met, BEST staff talk of strike from August 6

The staff of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) have threatened to go on an indefinite strike, demanding a new wage agreement.

Though the loss-making Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) has seen a rise in the number of passengers after a fare cut earlier this month, its staff union on Monday threatened to go on an indefinite strike from midnight of August 6, demanding a new wage agreement, among other things.

File photo of air-conditioned BEST buses. (Kunal Patil/HT File Photo)

The BEST Workers’ Union, the only labour union authorised to negotiate labour issues with the administration, said it has sent a notice to the officials about the strike. If the negotiations fail, this will be the second strike by BEST workers this year, around eight months after the earlier one from January 7 to 16.

Shashank Rao, leader of the union, said that in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with them for hiring private buses on a wet lease (in which the contractor bears the cost of the driver and maintenance), the BEST and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had assured the union that they will start negotiations over wage agreement and give a 10-step hike to junior grade employees. However, this has not yet been fulfilled. “The BEST and the BMC signed an MoU with us for the wet lease buses, but are ignoring the assurances on the negotiations for the wage agreement. We have submitted the demand for wage agreement negotiations on July 8 and sent four reminders thereafter. But, the administration has not responded to it positively,” said Rao, adding that if the strike starts, BEST and BMC will be “completely responsible”.

In the MoU, the BEST and the BMC had assured that the former will maintain the bus fleet at 3,337 buses and won’t retrench any employees and their existing salary benefits, in lieu of the nod for hiring private buses. The pending gratuity of retired employees will be given by September 2019 and the BEST employees who joined after 2007 will be given the remaining 10 -step increment, in accordance with a high court order of January, the MoU had stated. BEST is the second-biggest mode of public transport after suburban locals in Mumbai. Currently, BEST ferries more than 25 lakh commuters daily.