Punjab Roadways contractual staff to go on strike from today

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 6

Angered over the unfulfilled demands, the Punjab Roadways Punbus/PRTC Contract Workers Union, on Sunday held a meeting at the city bus stand to make an announcement of indefinite strike to be launched on December 7.

State president Resham Singh Gill, general secretary Baljit Singh Gill, Garpreet Singh Pannu, Harkesh Vicky, Jagtar speaking at the meeting at Jalandhar bus stand said the Punjab Roadways Punbus PRTC Contract Workers Union Punjab Singh said when the employees were protesting against the policies of the Punjab government, the Transport Department was resorting to filing criminal cases against the union leaders and trying to suppress the protests instead of accepting their long-pending demands.

The depot principal secretary announced in the meeting to go on a complete strike as the government has not been accepting the demands of contractual employees of the Transport Department for a long time. “On December 3, after observing a chakka jam strike, we were assured by the government that our matter would be taken up in the Cabinet meeting, however, the Transport Minister failed to raise our demands. Besides, in a meeting with the minister on the issue of the three-year contract, employees, the minister again assured the PUNBUS and PRTC staff, but no solution has worked out in the meeting, which has made it clear that the government is pursuing a policy of evasion,” added Resham Singh Gill.

Apart from the regularisation of as many as 8,000 contractual workers, the union demanded to include around 10,000 buses in the PRTC and the roadways.