Mumbai city was paralysed when the Central and Western Railway motormen went on strike early this month. A fast-track committee is expected to look into their demands and a decision is expected on 15th June—but will anything happen?

Mumbai’s local train service, which is the city’s lifeline, came to a standstill due to the Central and Western Railway motormen strike early this month. The strike also witnessed members of Parliament, including Sanjay Nirupam, raising the issue in the House. The strike ended on the second day after it had started (4th May).

However, the issue has still not been resolved. Mumbai’s denizens may be hit by another strike after 15th June, as the ‘fast-track’ committee is not empowered to deal with this issue.

In fact, the committee is not the right authority to resolve the issue. In 2006, a new wage settlement was decided based on the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. This wage settlement was for all government and public sector employees.

The new wage settlement reduced the eight pay-scale categories to four pay-scale categories for the Indian Railways. With this reduction, railway guards were clubbed along with motormen for the first time in the same category. Before that, guards along with a few other positions were on a lower pay scale than the motormen. This is now a major issue for motormen, who have been affected by the changes, and that is the crux of the problem.

Motormen believe that their services have not been valued as they have been placed on par with positions which earlier were a part of a lower grade.

Moreover, the motormen were also encouraged by a political party in their agitation. Faced with negative political fallout and a possible law-and-order problem, the Maharashtra Home ministry patched up a face-saving act by announcing that a
fast-track committee would be set up to resolve the matter.

The sanctity of the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations is higher than what the fast-track committee can decide upon.The authorities who can decide the issue are the Departmental Pay Anomaly Committee and the National Pay Anomaly Committee. The motormen’s union has already appealed to them and their case is still pending.

While 15 June 2010 is the new date for the fast-track committee to take a decision, it cannot do so. Incidentally, the Bombay High Court’s hearing on the same case is also scheduled for 15th June.Will the motormen dare to cripple Mumbai again? If they do so, it will be after the monsoon has set in and public anger will be even worse than before.

Besides other demands, the motormen’s union has also asked to raise the kilometre ceiling to 300km. Motormen working in the Central and Western Railway are entitled to payments equivalent to a minimum of 150km driven by them.

The Indian Railway Board is fairly placed to decide this issue by itself. The union has also demanded special leave entitlements for motormen, which again, is most likely to be rejected. It would be difficult to discriminate among railway workers, by allowing special leave entitlements exclusively for motormen.

With such constraints, it remains to be seen how motormen will act after 15th June, as a second strike is likely to trigger more public anger.“You will have to contact the fast-track committee for these details,” said SS Gupta, chief public relations officer (CPRO), Mumbai division, Western Railway. — Moneylife Digital Team