Karnataka bus strike looms from May 20 as RTC staff firm on pay hike, arrears demands

Bengaluru: Government bus services in Karnataka may be disrupted from May 20 onwards, as Road Transport Corporation (RTC) employees' unions vowed to go ahead with an indefinite strike over pay hike and arrears payment. 

On Wednesday, the Joint Action Committee of the Trade Unions of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation rejected the 12.5 per cent pay hike announced by the government with effect from April 1, 2025. 

Instead, it demanded a 25 per cent hike from January 1, 2024, plus 12 months of arrears. 

The 12.5 per cent will benefit 1.05 lakh employees and officers of the state's four bus corporations, resulting in an additional expenditure of Rs 72.80 crore per month and Rs 873.64 crore per year. 

It will be paid from July 1, 2026, and remain in force until March 31, 2029. Arrears for April 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, will be paid in phases depending on the RTCs' financial condition, the government said. 

The committee, representing six employees' unions, said that the government must pay Rs 513.08 crore in arrears for 2020. The arrears resulted from the previous 15 per cent hike, which covered the period from January 1, 2020, to March 31, 2024. While employees received the hike from March 1, 2023, they were not paid arrears for 38 months prior. The government agreed to pay arrears for only 26 months, declining to pay for 2020 due to the pandemic. 

The unions also stuck to their demand for a fresh hike of 25 per cent — in line with the 27.5 per cent hike granted to other government employees under the 7th Pay Commission — for four years, starting January 1, 2024. 

The committee stated that Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy had said at an April 29 meeting that a final decision on the hike would be taken after discussions with the chief minister and assured another meeting would be called. But on May 12, the government "unilaterally" announced the 12.5 per cent hike. 

"The Joint Action Committee condemns this unilateral and unjust decision of the government. This move not only causes severe financial loss to transport employees but also undermines the constitutional and legal rights traditionally upheld for the past 40–50 years," it said at a press conference here on Wednesday. 

The committee urged the government to withdraw both orders and hold discussions or else it will launch an indefinite strike from May 20. 

It also demanded that the 31 per cent dearness allowance that existed as of July 1, 2022, be merged with the basic pay, annual increments must be revised as per the charter of demands dated January 25, 2024, and a revised pay scale must be created. Arrears for the said period must also be paid. Drivers' daily allowance and other allowances must be increased. Form-4 and other pending demands must be discussed with the committee and resolved within a month, it added.