Hyderabad: Transport and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar on Saturday said the Telangana government would honour every promise made to RTC employees, including the RTC merger process. He also appealed to employees not to believe what he described as misleading propaganda by some trade union leaders.
In a press note, the Minister said the government had held extensive discussions with trade union representatives under the leadership of Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka. Ministers Sridhar Babu, Vivek Venkatswamy and Adluri Laxman Kumar, senior officials and RTC management also attended the meeting.
According to Ponnam Prabhakar, the stakeholders unanimously resolved several issues after nearly 14 hours of deliberations.
RTC merger process linked to union elections
The Minister said the meeting reviewed 32 demands raised by RTC employees. He added that 29 issues fell under the RTC management, while the remaining three required government action.
He said the management had already initiated action on the 29 issues through the ED Committee. Meanwhile, the government would address the remaining issues, including recognition of trade unions, the 2021 Pay Revision Commission (PRC) and the RTC merger process.
Furthermore, Ponnam Prabhakar said the government would implement the announced 11 per cent PRC benefit from the July salary.
RTC merger process to include employee representatives
The Minister said employees had unanimously agreed that representatives of recognised trade unions should become members of the committee that would prepare the merger guidelines.
Therefore, the government had decided to conduct recognition elections before finalising the committee. He said the Labour Department had already started the election process and appointed Joint Labour Commissioner Sunita as the nodal officer. The verification process was underway, and authorities would soon announce the election schedule.
Ponnam Prabhakar said the government adopted this approach to avoid complications experienced after the RTC merger in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. He urged employees not to believe false campaigns and reiterated that the Congress government remained committed to implementing every assurance given to RTC workers.