The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) employees have threatened to go an indefinite strike August 6 onwards after their demands were left unfulfilled. The strike has been backed by the BEST Workers Union who has offered their charter of six demands to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) along with BEST Undertaking and eight other civic bodies.
If the strike comes to effect then it is sure to remind the commuters, the nightmare they faced early this year for nine days in January as the bus corporation was shut down. The strike could also affect BEST's positive image which was built after they reduced their fare prices to a bare minimum of ₹5.
The BEST Workers Union had written a letter to the authorities stating that if the wage agreement talks are not resumed, the workers will repeat the strike which was called earlier this year.
BEST Workers' Union, General Secretary, Shashank Rao said that they had signed an MoU on June 11 with the BMC after they were promised negotiations on wage agreement which expired in March 2016. He added despite numerous reminders for the same, there has been no response to the letters and accordingly, they have decided to go on an indefinite strike.
The BEST officials have stated that this could affect the corporation's positive image as, since the past 10 days, the passengers have begun flocking back to BEST buses after the fare prices were slashed. More than 40 lakh passengers have travelled through BEST buses in the last week or so.
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