Mumbai: Despite court order, BEST union to go ahead with strike from Friday midnight

Among the key demands are clearance of dues worth Rs 1,410 crore to retired employees. Representational Pic

Even as the Industrial Court passed interim orders restraining workers from proceeding on any strike, the BEST Kamgar Kruti Samiti on Thursday announced that it would go ahead with the strike from midnight on Friday.

The Kruti Samiti, a committee of 12 worker bodies that has joined hands to take up BEST-related issues, held a large meeting at Dadar, Mumbai, on Thursday evening to finalise the decision and announce the strike.

Among the key demands are clearance of dues worth Rs 1,410 crore to retired employees.

"We have asked for an interim raise of Rs 1,500 for employees, implementation of the 8th Pay Commission when it comes, scrapping of the wet lease model, bringing all buses under BEST control, merging all wet lease employees into BEST, recruitment of 3,000 conductors into BEST, and the merger of BEST and BMC budgets," a union leader said.

In response, the BEST undertaking, apart from approaching the Industrial Court, has also invoked the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act, 2023, under which uninterrupted transport services across Greater Mumbai and uninterrupted electricity supply to the city are classified as "essential services."