New Delhi | The Bombay High Court on Wednesday has directed the BEST employees Union to call off their strike giving relief to the commuters who were facing difficulties due to the strike which continued for almost 9 days.
The High Court has further ordered the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Union to resume to their work within 1 hour. The Court has also informed that a retired high court judge will be appointed to negotiate terms between the union and BEST management.
Over 32,000 BEST employees have been on strike since January 8 over their various demands, including pay hike, revision of pay grade for junior level employees, and merger of loss-making BEST’s budget with that of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The High Court earlier on Tuesday directed the BEST workers’ union to take a final decision on the withdrawal of its ongoing strike and inform the court on Wednesday.
The direction had came after the BEST told the court that it was willing to implement the redressal measure suggested by the state government’s high-powered committee on granting an interim pay hike to its employees. The high-powered committee, headed by chief secretary, has recommended, among other things, that subject to the strike being called off, as an interim measure, workers be granted a ’10-step increase’ in salary for about 15,000 employees in a time-bound manner.
The BEST has a fleet of over 3,200 buses which criss-cross the metropolis and also operate services in the neighbouring Thane district and Navi Mumbai. It is the second-biggest mode of transport in Mumbai after local trains, which ferry over 80 lakh passengers every day.
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