Flash strike was called over pregnant BEST bus conductor being ‘insulted by manager of company’
Commuters were stranded on Monday morning due to the flash strike
A total of 210 bus services were affected on Monday morning after the wet-lease company workers went on a flash strike at Pratiksha Nagar (Sion) and Dharavi bus depots. The trigger for this strike seems to be the “insulting treatment” meted out to a pregnant conductor by employees of the company. Meanwhile, commuters lamented that services of a once-trusted undertaking had now become unpredictable.
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As per preliminary information, a conductor in her advanced stage of pregnancy sought light duties from the company manager, who denied her request and insulted her instead. This caused the other employees to protest. The strike was eventually called off on Monday afternoon.
The employees have also been upset about low and delayed salaries. According to the information received, wet-lease bus conductors and drivers are not receiving their salaries on time. There are also various demands, including that they should be hired as permanent workers. The workers belong to the wet lease company—Mateshwari Urban Transport—which is operational at Santacruz, Majas, Wadala, Mulund besides Dharavi and Pratiksha Nagar.
As per information received from the deputy depot manager (Anik/Pratisha Nagar), on January 10, the secretary of Mathadi Workers Union Pradeep Magare, along with the conductor Supriya Kadam visited the Anik depot manager and requested that she should not be sent for work on the bus but be given other light work at the depot. A demand was forwarded to Mateshwari Urban Transport, but Salim Khatri, the manager, refused to comply. An argument ensued and Magare allegedly assaulted Khatri after the latter insulted Kadam. Following this, a case was registered at the Wadala Truck Terminal police station with the BEST security officer, the depot manager of the Mateshwari staff concerned, Supriya Kadam and Magare filing complaints.
“The BEST undertaking ran self-owned buses on the routes that were affected by the strike,” a BEST spokesperson said.
100
No. of services affected at Dharavi depot
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