No Salary for 2 Months, Uttarakhand Roadways Workers Continue Protest

Thousands of permanent workers in Uttarakhand Roadways have not been paid their salaries for the last two months. Since October 26, around 3,000 workers of the Uttarakhand Roadways Workers’ Union have been sporting black arm bands to work as a mark of protest against the pending salaries.

“We have not got the salaries for the months of September and October. Though the High Court had asked the government to clear the dues of Rs 69 crore, it is still pending,” said Ashok Chowdhary of Uttarakhand Roadways Karamchari Union.

There are around 6,500 workers in Uttarakhand Roadways. Of this, 3,500 workers are permanent ones and rest are contractual workers. The contractual workers have got their wages of September and the wage for October is pending. However, the permanent workers have not received the salaries of September and October.

Earlier on October 22, the workers had approached the Uttarakhand High Court, which had then asked the transport and finance secretaries of the state government to take decision on clearing the dues of workers before Diwali. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by the Uttarakhand Roadways Karamchari Union seeking the clearance of their dues that amounted nearly Rs 69 crore. 

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“We had approached the high court, demanding that the government clear our dues. We are against the fact that they threatened to invoke ESMA (Essential Services Maintenance Act) if the workers went on strike. The court has now asked the government to take a decision on clearance of the dues before Diwali,” MC Pant, the advocate who had appeared for the workers in court, was quoted as saying.

At that time, the unions had assured that they won’t go on strike till the end of the festive season. In court also, workers had repeated this. But, the workers have not been paid even after Diwali and this has forced the workers to mark their protest. 

“We have started to wear black arm bands since October 26, a day before the Diwali. In this festive season, we have done 15% extra work,” said Chowdhary. The workers, however, have not given any strike call and the protest is going on without disrupting public transportation.

The workers will continue their peaceful protest till November 4.

“On November 4, we will approach the court again to convey that the dues have not been cleared yet,” Chowdhary added.

This is not the first time the workers have approached the court for their pending salary. The workers had got their salaries of July and August, too, after the intervention of court. The workers of Uttarakhand Roadways have continuously been staging protests and strikes to get their rights.

In May this year, the workers had given a strike call for their pending wages of March and April. At that time, the workers had also registered their opposition on the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act of 2019. One of the main demands of the workers was to exempt the roadways from the fines under the new MV Act. But, soon after the workers had given the strike call, the state government agreed to clear the pending salaries.

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