Karnataka announces 12.5% pay hike for RTC staff; unions firm on May 20 strike

Employees slammed the 'unilateral' move, demanding 25% raise and all arrear payments

Bengaluru: Karnataka on Tuesday announced a 12.5% hike in basic pay for the 1.05 lakh employees and officers of the state's four bus corporations, with effect from April 1, 2025.

The government will start paying the revised salaries from July 1, 2026. However, due to the corporations' liabilities of Rs 7,130.8 crore, arrears for April 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, will be paid in phases depending on "the financial condition" of the KSRTC, BMTC, NWKRTC, KKRTC. The hike will also apply to employees of Karnataka Implement and Machinery Company (KIMCO), which merged into the KSRTC.

The revised pay structure will remain in force until March 31, 2029, resulting in an additional expenditure of Rs 72.80 crore per month and Rs 873.64 crore annually for the four Road Transport Corporations (RTCs)).

RTC employees previously received a 15% hike from March 1, 2023, after a 38-month delay from January 1, 2020. The government also promised to pay Rs 1,785 crore in arrears for 38 months (January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2023), but eventually agreed to pay only Rs 1,271.92 crore for 26 months, declining arrears for the year 2020 due to Covid. Of the Rs 1,271.92 crore, the government has paid only Rs 450 crore so far.

The government initially announced a 7% pay hike effective January 1, 2024, but has now revised it to 12.5% but effective April 1, 2025.

The Joint Action Committee of the Trade Unions of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, which represents six employees' union, rejected the "unilateral" hike and vowed to go ahead with its indefinite bus strike from May 20.

The committee issued the strike notice to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a letter on April 29, hours after a meeting with Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy failed to resolve their differences. It invoked Section 22 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

The committee has stuck to its demand for a 25% pay hike starting January 1, 2024 — in line with the 27.5% hike granted to other government employees under the 7th Pay Commission — and Rs 1,785 crore in arrears for 38 months.

D A Vijaya Bhaskar, general secretary of the KSRTC Staff and Workers’ Federation (which is part of the committee), slammed the "unilateral" decision.

According to him, the transport minister had stated at the April 29 meeting that the 7% offer not final but said that 25% was not possible either.

"We asked him to call a meeting and hold discussions. He agreed but the government has now unilaterally announced the hike, which is only 12.5%. Employees will also not get arrears from January 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025. This is unacceptable. We will go ahead with our indefinite strike from May 20," he said.

Late Tuesday night, the committee formally wrote to the chief minister, opposing the "meagre" hike and the government's refusal to pay arrears for the year 2020. It reminded him that RTC employees had "worked really hard" to make the Shakti free bus travel scheme a success. It also maintained that the corporations could afford the 25% pay hike and arrears payment after increasing fares by 15% from January 1, 2025.