This story is from August 23, 2019

BEST workers cast vote to take call on 'indefinite strike' in Mumbai from Saturday midnight

BEST workers cast vote to take call on 'indefinite strike' in Mumbai from Saturday midnight
BEST employees cast their vote to decide on whether the union should go on with the proposed 'indefinite strike'
MUMBAI: The BEST Workers Union is conducting a poll of thousands of its employees at 27 bus depots across Mumbai on Friday to get a consensus on whether to go on indefinite bus strike from Saturday midnight or call off the agitation.
A section of workers from rival union tried to disrupt the poll process at a few depots, alleged BEST Worker’s Union leader Shashank Rao.
He said that the union has also registered a non cognisance complaint for the incident at Wadala depot this morning. “Similar attempts were made to thwart the election process at Gorai and Goregaon depots the afternoon. But we got support of the local police who ensured that the poll goes uninterrupted till late afternoon,” he said.
The police were deployed in large numbers outside the depots where BEST workers, specially drivers and conductors came forward to cast vote for taking a call on the proposed 'indefinite strike'.
BEST committee chairman Anil Patankar has appealed to workers not to go on strike as it will inconvenience thousands of commuters who are now coming back to BEST buses after the fare cuts. The Shiv Sena union is not part of the strike call and has been meeting staffers since Thursday evening to persuade them to stay away from the poll.
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About the Author
Somit Sen

Somit Sen, Senior Editor at The Times of India, Mumbai. He covers stories on Power beat in Maharashtra and on Oil & Gas. He also covers RTO, BEST (Mumbai’s public transport buses), transport ministry, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, interstate transport (trucks/tempos) and the fleetcabs.

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