The Kerala State Road Transport Corporationhas suspended 69 of its employees for striking service despite of the formal withdrawal of the strike. Employees of the mechanical wing of the KSRTC were on strike till Tuesday night following the decision of the KSRTC management to introduce an additional night shift for the employees of the mechanical wing.
On Tuesday, the employees’ unions led by the INTUC and the CITU had called off their strike following a discussion with the Transport Minister. However, a group of employees, who do not belong to INTUC and CITU continued their strike and did not turn up for duty on Wednesday morning.
“All those who failed to turn up for duty on Wednesday were suspended,” said an official. According to officials, 24 employees from Thamarassery depot, 12 from Kozhikode depot, 27 from regional workshop and 6 from Vadakara depot were suspended for not turning up for duty.
According to officials, all the suspended employees were supposed to reach their respective depots for the 6 am to 2 pm morning shift and 9am to 5pm day shift.
The employees went on strike following the move to change the duty pattern of mechanical employees by introducing a 7pm to 7am shift for mechanical employees. At present, the mechanical wing has four different shifts, 9am to 5pm, 6am to 2pm, 2pm to 10am and 10pm to 6am.
