The Maharashtra government has invoked ESMA against the BEST employees who have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from midnight, to protest the proposed wages revision, recommended by the Pay Revision Commission (PRC) recently.
More than 42,000 employees of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) today threatened to go on strike, despite BEST already having obtained an order from an industrial court in Mumbai, restraining BEST Kamgar Karmachari Sangathan from resorting to a strike.
However, as the employees have decided to go ahead with their move, overlooking the court order, the state government has intervened and invoked Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), 2005, prohibiting them from going on strike, a BEST release here said.
The BEST management has also appealed to the staff members to report on duty and desist from taking part in the proposed strike from midnight today.
Earlier, BEST union president Sharad Rao said, in the pay revision, dearness allowance (DA) has been freezed from this month, following which some of the employees will have to suffer losses between Rs 600 and Rs 1,800 per month. BEST has also stopped interim relief for employees from this month, he added.
But, BEST spokesman Abdul Tamboli said the proposal is yet to be sanctioned by the BEST committee.
He also assured that electricity supply would be not be affected even if the employees go on strike.
Also, as an alternative, the administration has decided to run ST (State Transport) and private buses in the metropolis to prevent any problems for commuters.
