Report by Mazdoor Ekta Committee correspondent
8000 contract and outsourced workers of bus service in Punjab went on a three-day strike from 6 January 2025. Drivers, conductors and other employees of Punjab Roadways, PRTC and PUNBUS participated in this strike. Permanent employees of the transport service also supported the strike.
During this strike, contract and outsourced workers of Punjab Roadways, PUNBUS and PRTC organized demonstrations at all 27 bus depots of the state.
The demands of the workers included: regularization of jobs of drivers and conductors working on contract; elimination of pay disparity between regular and contract employees; buses should not be run by the transport department through contractors.
Transport service employees in Punjab have been demanding regularization of their jobs and a salary hike for the last seven years. They have been demanding five percent annual salary hike and reinstatement of suspended employees. They have also demanded that the government should take action against private transport mafias. Their demands also include cessation of hiring of private buses under the kilometre scheme and purchase of new buses instead.
On 1 July 2024, a meeting of Punjab Roadways, PRTC and PUNBUS employees was held with the concerned officials of the Punjab government. After this, they also submitted a letter to all the ministers in the month of December with their demands. Despite this, no concrete action was taken on their demands. Due to no action on their demands, these workers had to start a strike.
At present, the situation of Punjab Roadways, PRTC and PUNBUS is that 90 percent of their operations are being executed by contract and outsourced employees. Punjab Roadways, PRTC and PUNBUS have 2000 contract employees and about 6000 outsourced employees.
Instead of improving the public transport system, the governments of all the parties that have come to power in Punjab so far have promoted privatization. They have not made any recruitment for the last 20 years. Instead of buying new buses, the kilometre scheme has been promoted. Due to this scheme, private bus operators have benefited while the government bus service has suffered.
The Punjab government has not paid about Rs 600 crore to the transport department, due to which the workers are not getting their wages on time. The government has not been depositing Rs 1950 per employee in the EPF account of contract workers for the last 4 months.
At present, drivers and conductors in Punjab Roadways, PRTC and PUNBUS are getting salaries in two categories. The first batch of drivers and conductors get a salary of Rs 18,000 per month. Whereas in the second batch of drivers are getting a salary of Rs 13,000 per month and conductors are getting a salary of Rs 12,000 per month. This shows that these workers have to work on very low wages.
The Punjab government is deliberately destroying the public transport system. The public transport system is being privatized to fill the coffers of the capitalists. That is why the workers of Punjab Roadways, PRTC and PUNBUS are being contracted and outsourced so that maximum exploitation of all workers can be done.
Transport workers along with all public service workers must unite and intensify their struggle against the privatisation and liberalisation policies of the capitalists.