The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary and Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami, on June 20th, Wednesday, condemned the State Transport Corporations in T.N’s plans of recruiting bus drivers and conductors on a contract basis through private manpower agencies.
In a tweet from Mr. Palaniswami via X (formerly Twitter), he hinted that there was suspicion that AIADMK government wanted to privatize State Transport Corporations by having the first phase recruit bus drivers and conductors on a contract basis.
He urged Zonal Transport Corporations in Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Nagercoil to annul the tenders called for engagement of drivers and conductors from staffing firms.
Mr. Palaniswami also urged that the DMK-led government must abandon all thoughts of any privatisation plans, instead recruit properly, meet demands made by employees of transport Corporation while ensuring proper transportation service for the public.
In a separate tweet O. Panneerselvam, coordinator of AIADMK Workers Rights Retrieval Committee spoke against this move and said it went against social justice principle.
He then appealed to Chief Minister M K Stalin to cancel this tender inviting recruitment from manpower agencies.
PMK criticises move
The President of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Anbumani Ramadoss said how DMK had opposed contracting drivers and conductors for Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation when it was in opposition but is now doing so as per its policy which has been criticized by Madras High Court as “encouraging labor exploitation” in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, and Nagercoil
Dr Anbumani noted if these appointments continued on contract terms the state will face similar resistance like what happened when it passed a law providing for 12-hour work day in 2023.
“Drivers and conductors are the pillars of State Transport Corporations. It is only natural justice that they should be appointed by following proper procedures and be paid wages commensurate with their work. But what the Tamil Nadu government is doing is imposing a labor-exploitative contract system whereby drivers’ and conductors’ labour will be handed over to private human resource companies. Neither natural justice nor social justice supports this practice,” said Dr Anbumani.
Dr Anbumani further argued that this move would enable vested interests within the state government to award contracts to their preferred human resource companies.
“This amount will be less than that paid to permanent employees of state transport corporations. The private company, in turn, pays a fraction of this sum as salary to contract drivers.” “The worst part is those appointments made through private human resource firms do not have any reservation system,” he added while calling on the government to give up employing drivers and conductors under these terms, but directly employ workers for its transport department.
