Staff to haul up BMRCL in court for not recognising their union

Employees will haul up the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) in court for denying recognition to their union by “crafty” methods.

BMRCL Employees’ Union vice president Suryanarayana Murthy said following the strike by employees that disrupted metro rail services on July 7, Pradeep Singh Kharola, the Managing Director of the BMRCL, had “promised to address our demands, including the recognition of the union”. Now, however, the MD says employees cannot be part of the union since they do not come under the category of ‘workmen’, he added.

A copy of the letter from the BMRCL, available with DH, says employees performing supervisory works cannot be members of the union.

“Section engineers, junior engineers, customer relation officers as well as station controllers/train operators have been made members of the employees’ union. These employees are performing supervisory functions in their respective fields. As per (the) law, employees performing supervisory works can’t be members of the union,” it says. Kharola could not be reached for comment. 

A source in the BMRCL, however, said the company was worried that recognising the union would “allow employees to hold the corporation to ransom”. “We can’t allow a situation where an essential service like the metro is disrupted at the drop of a hat. We have internal platforms and various mechanisms to resolve the grievances. We don’t want travellers to suffer because of minor issues,” the source said.

Murthy alleged that the BMRCL was employing crafty methods to sidestep their genuine grievances. “There has been no wage revision for seven years. Employees neither get a lunch break nor do they have a canteen or toilets. These are the basic issues we are fighting for.”

Stating that none of the union members was performing supervisory work, he said they were either assistants, clerks or engineers in the operation and maintenance division. “Describing them as supervisors is not true considering the BMRCL’s reply to an RTI application that there are 697 workmen, 690 supervisors and 42 officers in the corporation.”