The much-delayed referendum to select recognised unions in the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will be held on December 30 and the results will be declared on January 1, 2021.
A notification for the referendum will be issued on November 13 by the Assistant Labour Officer, Ernakulam, who has been designated as returning officer.
The draft voters’ list will be published on November 17. Complaints, if any, can be submitted till November 23 and after hearing on November 25, the final voters’ list will be published on November 30. Nominations will be accepted on December 2 and scrutiny will take place the same day. Voting will be from 7.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. on December 30 at 100 depots of the KSRTC.
Around 29,000 employees on the rolls on the date of notification can participate in the referendum but the empanelled staff will not be eligible for voting.
The validity of the recognised unions, the CITU-affiliated Kerala State Road Transport Employees Association and the INTUC-affiliated Transport Democratic Federation (TDF), had ended on December 14, 2019. The last referendum to select recognised unions was held in 2016.
A minimum of 15% votes are needed for becoming a registered union as per the Kerala Recognition of Trade Union Act, 2010 and the Kerala Recognition of Trade Unions Rules, 2011. In the 2016 referendum, the KSRTEA got 48% votes and the TDF 28%, from an electorate of 42,000.
The referendum comes after the intervention of the High Court in a case filed by TDF. The Labour Commissioner had found 14 unions in the KSRTC eligible for participating in the referendum.
