90,000 Maharashtra staffers lose 36 days’ pay for 4-day stir

MUMBAI: In a decision that could have a chilling effect on workers’ unions, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) issued a circular on Monday deducting 36 days’ salary of nearly 90,000 employees, including 68,000 state bus drivers and conductors, as “punitive action” for a four-day strike during Diwali.

The public transport utility plans to implement the 36-day salary cut in six instalments— with the first four days’ pay cut to be enforced this month. The remaining 32 days’ salaries will be deducted in the next six months, senior officials said.

More than 15,000 state buses were off the road and lakhs of commuters were inconvenienced due to the strike between October 17 and 20. MSRTC claimed it incurred losses of about Rs 125 crore.


The employees were demanding implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission.

People across the state faced considerable hardship travelling to their hometowns during the festive season. The Bombay high court had subsequently termed the strike as “illegal” and ordered MSRTC employees to return to work. A senior official said: “The MSRTC board is headed by the state transport minister and it had passed a resolution in 2005 empowering the management to deduct up to eight days of salaries for every single day of strike. We are just exercising these powers.”