Ahmedabad Mirror: Ahmedabad: Wednesday, December 27, 2017.
Alabour court
has stopped Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service from disbursing money to a
contractor till the case of 80 AMTS bus drivers is disposed of. The drivers who
were terminated from service had filed a case against their principal employer
AMTS and the principal contractor, a Delhi-based company. Both AMTS and Shyama
Shyam VSK Bus Operations Pvt Ltd had signed an agreement for 2012-2017 to
provide bus service through drivers hired by the contractor.
While the
contractors paid workers, AMTS paid the contractor. Meanwhile, 200 workers and
19 mechanics in the workshop were terminated recently. Around 80 workers in two
separate applications filed case in the labour court, notices were sent to AMTS
and the contractor.
What workers
have to say
Sajid Hussain
Shaikh (38) who was terminated as a driver said, “I was served notice in
October, a month before I was to be relieved. We have not been paid our
gratuity and overtime money. I have been working since January 1, 2012. I have
three kids, wife and parents. How will I survive? I am unemployed for the past
one month. With no option, we approached the court.” Bhupendra Yadav (57) who
too worked as driver said, “The contract between the company and AMTS was
extended till March 2018 but the company did not take it up.
They served
notice stating the contract has not been extended and so we will be terminated.
Information under RTI states that as per the agreement we should have been paid
the bonus of more than 8 per cent which wasn’t the case.” General Secretary of
the Kamdar Hit Rakshak Union Satyavan Adishwar who represents the drivers’ case
said that as per the industrial act, three months’ notice or three months’
notice pay compensation should be paid to the workers. “According to 25 (OO),
if company doesn’t provide work and want to terminate the worker, at that time
establishment will have to pay retrenchment compensation, meaning 15 days per
year as well as gratuity amount.”
What AMTS
says
AMTS legal
officer J K Shah said, “There was an agreement between the company and AMTS.
Workers were hired and terminated by the contractor. They are not AMTS
employees. Tenure of the contract is over. The company has been able to produce
evidence of paid legal dues and regular salary in the court. As far as the
interim order is concerned, we will obey it and won’t disburse the amount.”
Contractor’s
advocate argued that if a worker has not been able to complete more than 240
days per year of work, they are not entitled for retrenchment and gratuity.
Satyavan contended that contractor has not provided weekly and earning leave as
well as festival leave. Drivers earned over Rs 12,000 per month while mechanics
were paid Rs 500 per day. Mirrorcontacted the contractor’s lawyer Anil Parikh
who said, “We respect the interim order by Labour court. The amount sought is
disputed by the workers. We have provided bank guarantee to the AMTS during
contract. We also have an outstanding Rs 70 lakh bill from AMTS.
The workers’
allegations are baseless. We are ready to give gratuity to the workers who have
completed five years of service.” Meanwhile, the workers have approached
Gujarat High Court challenging the interim order by Labour court for 80
workers. Satyavan said, “The order passed on December 5 by Labour Court is not
clear and it doesn’t disclose the amount to be disbursed by the AMTS to the
contractor. Also, we wanted that money to be with the court rather than AMTS.
So, we have challenged it.”
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