Chennai, January 12: The eight-day long transport union workers strike over wage issues in Tamil Nadu was called off temporarily on Thursday. The agitating workers across the state said they would return to work on Friday, ahead of Pongal festival, which falls on 14 January.  Workers of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) had launched an indefinite strike on January 4 following a failure of talks with the government on wage revision and other issues.

To recall, scores of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) staff joined the strike, crippling normal life across the state.  The protesters were reported to have caused inconvenience to the people ahead of the festive season as state-run buses play a major role in transporting hundreds of thousands daily.

On Wednesday, the Madras High Court had urged the Tamil Nadu government to immediately implement the wage hike of 2.44%. As per ANI report, the striking Transport unions in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday agreed to accept the 2.44 percent wage hike. The union also urged the Madras High Court to direct the state government to hold talks with them.

The transport workers union wanted a 2.57 times hike, the government offered only 2.44, resulting in the stalemate. Nearly, 60,000 TNSTC employees were abstaining from work during these 8 days.  The protest was called against authorities as they refused to accept the demands of the striking employees who have been seeking higher wages. The workers struck work citing other demands also like pending dues for serving and retired personnel. The strike by about 17 unions had severely crippled public sector bus services for the past one week, with the government deploying temporary drivers with valid licences to ply the buses.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 12, 2018 12:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).