BMTC Strike - what have we learnt?

@ IDS-avare'

Public Transport in Bangalore today means Bus which is solely run by BMTC. During business as usual this looks good.

Sorry, my most charitable rating would be "not good enough". We have gone through enough of debates over this, here, as also elsewhere.

You have mentioned out-sourcing. But, for BMTC to do an effective job of it, it has to undergo cultural changes, which is not going to be too easy. Better would be to dismantle its monopoly, and make it compete on a level playing field (it can even be slightly sloping in its favour, to begin with), like AIR-INDIA, BSNL, SBI, Insurance cos, etc have been made to do. If you agree, perhaps you would like to sign this petition.

And, if you do not find the arguments made out in the body of the petition convincing enough, perhaps a reading of this (as also the post just below it) should convince you. If still not convinced, perhaps you should read this.

If I have understood this tabulation (from ToI) correctly, a fresher driver gets total monthly emoluments of Rs 20,180/- (Basic - Rs 6,230/-, DA - Rs 12,000/-, HRA - Rs 1,200/-, incentives - Rs 750/-), apart from the annual bonus, etc. For the CTC (cost to company), you need to add gratuity, PF, ESI contributions, etc, making for a total easily in the range of Rs 25,000/- (I don't think a fresher blue-collar worker, in say L&T, would be drawing anywhere close to that). Besides, the tabulation lists comparative driver's salary figures (basic salary at the end of first year, I presume) for Karnataka @ Rs 11,000/-, Bangalore @ Rs 13,764/-, AP @ Rs 10,784/-, Maharashtra @ Rs 8,725/-, and TN @ Rs 11,333/-. So, Karnataka drivers are getting the highest emoluments. And, these basic salaries increase to 16 - 18K by 2nd yr, and to 35 - 40 K by the 15th yr.

These levels of salaries cannot be said to bad by any reckoning, and therefore, when the BMTC spokesperson says "The wages paid by KSRTC are the highest in the region. Despite drought conditions in the state, BMTC employees have been given a 23% hike, but want 30%. The hike will mean a Rs 2,200 crore financial burden on the corporation over the next four years" (for the full report, click here), one would have thought it stood to reason.

However, the same report also says - For a man who's been driving a public bus for 11 years, the state transport corporation management still gives him Rs 4,671, and dismisses his pleas to change his designation from trainee driver to driver. In the case of a BMTC driver who injured his eyes on the job, officials took him to hospital after six hours; by which time he had lost his eyesight. After this, the driver was denied four months' salary. "Over 33,000 men are working as trainee drivers and conductors but are made to work as regular drivers and conductors. This means one-third of the employees' jobs are not confirmed. Their salary is Rs 4,000 and the hike is of little use," said Anantha Subba Rao, president of the KSTC Staff and Workers' Federation.

So, a driver can be working for 11 years (and, even more, I guess) at a salary of Rs 4,671/-, ie one-fifth of what he will get when he is confirmed, if he is confirmed at all, and all for the same work (wait a minute - he will have to work over-time, for which he won't even be paid, whereas his confirmed counterpart, gets double the wages for over-time) And, there are over 33,000 people working that way, ie over one-third the total labour force. So, the problem essentially lies in this totally inequitous scenario.

The question then arises as to why anyone would want to continue working this way for BMTC/ KSRTC, for decades together, when he can get a job with the private operators (including taxi, auto, etc) at easily double the earnings? The answer to that is also fairly simple - quite the same as why a youth will take up a job as a NRK (Night Rat Killer) in Mumbai (check here). This is because, once he somehow manages to get confirmed, besides getting close to five times the wages as a trainee, plus perks like bonus, etc, within a couple of years, he will get the opportunity to join the labour aristocracy mafia, which decides who amongst the trainees should be confirmed and what rate. This is apart from the various other kinds of racketeering that the mafia gets involved in, of course in cahoots with the management mafia, and in turn the politician mafia at the highest level. The union leaders invariably head the labour aristocracy mafia, and that's why they will not question the open exploitation of the trainees.  

Very clearly, the government through its continued role as a service provider (and, as a producer, though that has reduced considerably now), is causing to perpetuate all kinds of artificialities and inequities, and it is high time the people demanded that it left the job to the proper 'public' sector, wrongly termed 'private sector'. Do join in the demnand for that here.

I see it is as quite positive. I dont remember any strike BMTC in the last 10 years and still BMTC could not satisfy the commuters even with full freedom for managers.  This evens the balance of power. Workers should have a say in the working of any company. Now  workers have to justify their demands and the management have to justify their orders and managemnt has to listen to commuters.  Many complaints we had highlighted in Praja and others could be solved.  Hopefully, the practice most buses running only from 9 to 5 shift which obviously benefitted the staff, cancelling buses in evening peak hours and run only run Volvo at that time, etc. will be stopped

Take steps but dont make BMTC the only mass transport means.

IDS,

Likewise, CRS & Metro will also not be the only mass transportation means. It has to be a cohesive mesh of road based PT and rail based PT. In the new model BMTC is just a a service provider among the many possible road based PT that can be offered. Please keep in mind that private operators too are not the magic bullet; i have lived in udupi for a few years and am no stranger to private bus operator union strikes and rampant rash driving so we won't be solving the problems just by adding private operators as an alternative to BMTC without fixing the underlying issues; othwewise we will see out of control private buses in the city streets. Bottom line is a steering committee needs to take a look at this from a big picture perspective as a whole and come up with a solution (similar to how we solve a complex engineering problem).

Also, those steering committe folks need to stay well ahead of the curve; and what i mean by that is for example, here is a new technology that is going to pretty much become standard in the developed world in the not too distant future - http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/18/tech/innovation/ieee-2040-cars/index.html?hpt=hp_bn5. A valid argument can be made that this technology is needed in India moreso than any other country since we can hugely improve the road use efficiency and incorporate this into buses moving on segregated busways PLUS improve road safety as we have one of the worst accident rates AND we can also eliminate the problem of strikes like i mentioned earlier since machines don't strike short of irate workers burning down the buses themselves..if this technology is used properly it does not matter whether BMTC is running the buses or some other third party. Knowing our country we will as usual be fast asleep and be in perpetual catch up mode like we have been for the past 50 or 60 odd years; traffic was bad enough in the 80s in Chennai and Bangalore to have warranted a solution and the best solution that the planners have come up with is a hodge podge of ill planned flyovers; badly planned concrete boxes that they call as underpasses and adhoc street widening.