Transport wage agreement to be signed shortly: Minister

Transport Minister S.S. Sivasankar, after the sixth round of talks for the 14th wage agreement with the transport trade unions on Wednesday, said the agreement would be signed shortly. 

Mr. Sivasankar, after concluding the talks with representatives of 66 trade unions, said the main issue of fixing the disparity in the wage matrix had been worked out and accepted by the unions. He said the demand put forth by the unions to increase the daily bata for the crew of the ordinary buses similar to the one paid to the crew in deluxe buses had been accepted and implemented.

Regarding the transport strike called by a section of the trade unions, the Minister said the main demand for calling for a strike was the bata increase which had been accepted.  He said there would be no fare revision. Transport Secretary K. Gopal participated in the talks