Overview

• Six state transport unions under a Joint Action Committee plan to suspend all bus operations from 6 am on August 5 until their demands are met.
• Employees are pressing for a fresh pay scale with a 25 percent basic wage increase, 38 months of backlog wages and enhancements to allowances, benefits and social security.
• The Karnataka Labour Department invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act on July 1, prohibiting any strike action by road transport workers through December 31, 2025.
• Union leaders accuse Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s government of reneging on a promised meeting and failing to address wage and service-condition grievances.
• The stoppage underscores wider public sector discontent following nationwide protests against recent central labor code reforms.