Buses operated by the four State Transport Corporation have decided to go off the roads in Karnataka on 9 January 2009 in protest against the government`s impasse in accepting their demands.

The Karnataka Rajya Rasthe Saarige Nigamagala Karmikara Aikyatha Horata Samithi, the umbrella organisation for seven unions, with around 90,000 employees as members, announced in a press conference organised on 29 December 2008, that it has already submitted the 38 point charter of demands and served the strike notice to the government.  The four state transport corporations include Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and North East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation.

The major issues of protest included wages and working conditions. According to the Samithi, the six per cent wage hike affected for road transport employees is less in comparison with the increment of the employees of union and state governments and public sector undertakings. The Samithi representatives pointed out that the 6 per cent hike in their salary is total injustice and an eyewash, given the situation that the hike in the salaries of employees of the union government has been increased by 21.5 per cent, that of state government to 17.5 per cent and the University Grants Commission by 70 per cent as per the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations.

According to the Samithi officials, though the Chief Minister had assured them about raising their wages at par with the union government employees, no notification in this regard has been issued by the government. The repeated demand of the Samithi for a 30 per cent hike in their salaries by 15 December, went unheeded.

Another demand of the protestors was the abolition of the trainee system. According to the Samithi officials, a newcomer joining the service will have to undergo a two-year training for which the payment will be Rs 2,500, which is one-third the amount paid to a regular employee. About 30,000 employees (one-third of the workforce) are employed in this manner and often their training period is extended to three years.