'Railways Has Been Hell Bent On Breaking The Law'

'The Railways is today running train services with 30% less number of loco pilots.'

The All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) has threatened to go on a nationwide strike if their demands regarding rest hours were not met by the Indian Railways.

In an unprecedented move, the loco pilots union decided to write to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, requesting him to refer their dispute with the rail administration over their rest hours, to the Lower House's Petition Committee.

In this interview to Rediff, K C James, Secretary General, AILRSA, who signed the letter, explains why the Union decided to write to the Lok Sabha Speaker and why they plan to go on a national strike if their demands were not met.

"From the 1st of June 2024 we came to a decision that we would join duty only after taking rest for 46 hours (30+16hours). At the same time, we gave an assurance to the Railways that we would see to it that our stand would not affect the train services. For the stand we have taken, the Railways have retaliated harshly even though we did not delay a single train," K C James tells Rediff's Shobha Warrier.

Why did the loco pilots union decided to submit a petition to the Lok Sabha Speaker so that it would be referred to the Lower House's petition committee?

We, the loco pilots, drive a train from the headquarters to an outstation location.

Once there is a break in duty, we take rest at the outstation which can be of 4 to 8 hours duration.

After that, our duty need not be back to the headquarters; it can be to another outstation.

We come back to the headquarters after 2 or 3 tours.

Then at the headquarters, we can avail 16 hours of rest.

This is our daily routine.

Like other working people, we do not have Sundays as holidays as we might be driving the train even on Sundays.

That's why the rule says, we can have 4 periodical rests of 30 hours in a month.

But what is happening is the Railways has been cutting our headquarters rest of 16 hours after a trip.

When they give us the weekly periodical rest, they cut our daily rest. They have been doing this for some time.

In effect, we get a weekly rest of 16 hours. Compare this to what the office staff gets. They leave by 5 pm Saturday evening and they come back on Monday after a day's rest on Sunday.

The 1979 ILO recommendation says that when workers are given weekly rest, they should also get daily rest also as suffix or prefix.

Our duty hours and rest period of the loco running staff are governed by the Indian Railway Servants (Hours of Work and Rest Period) Rules, 2005, and the Indian Railway Act, 1989.

The Regional Labour Commission centre is the appellate authority on Railway labour rules. We had represented the issue there in 2000.

In 2001, the labour commissioner ruled that Railways should not cut the rests that loco pilots are entitled to, and that both the weekly and daily rests should be treated differently.

What reason did the Railways say in denying the loco pilots their head-quarters rests?

What the Railways said was, they did not have enough people to run the trains!

When the Railways cited this as the reason for denying us our daily rests, the labour commissioner said, if the workers were ready to forgo their daily headquarters rest, the Railways could give compensation to them and book them for duty.

The labour commissioner also remarked that the Railways had no right to deny us our weekly rests.

Remember the labour commissioner gave this order in 2001!

The Railways appealed against the order to the labour ministry, and in 2003 the joint secretary in the Railway ministry cancelled the order.

When we took it up with the Central Administrative Tribunal in Bangalore in 2010, the Tribunal ordered to uphold the order of the Regional Labour Commissioner and cancelled the order of the joint secretary.

That is, in favour of loco pilots...

Yes, in favour of the loco pilots.

What the Railways did was, in 2012 it went to the high court against the order by the Central Administrative Tribunal. But the high court dismissed the petition saying the court did not intend to interfere in a matter concerning the Railways.

In 2018, the Railways approached the Central Administrative Tribunal in Bangalore asking it to cancel the order of the regional labour commissioner to give compensation to loco pilots.

That also was rejected saying that if the rests overlapped, Indian Railways was bound to give compensation to the loco pilots.

But the Railways has not implemented what the Regional Labour Commissioner has asked it to do, till today.

This is where things stand.

From the 1st of June 2024 we came to a decision that we would join duty only after taking rest for 46 hours (30+16hours).

At the same time, we gave an assurance to the Railways that we would see to it that our stand would not affect the train services.

For the stand we have taken, the Railways have retaliated harshly even though we did not delay a single train.

They suspended around 20 employees, gave major penalty charge sheet to 37 people, transferred 27 employees from the headquarters to various stations, and issued minor penalty charge sheet to more than 400 loco pilots.

It was when the Railways took action against us in this way that we decided to submit a petition to the Lok Sabha Speaker.

We had no other option as we have been not just denied what we deserve under the law but the organisation took action against us.

You feel the stance taken by the Railways has been anti-labour?

The Railways have been breaking laws all the time, that too even after the high court and the labour commissioner ordered them to adhere to certain rules.

What the labour commissioner says becomes the law. So, the Railways has been hell bent on breaking the law and taking a stand not to implement the rules under the law.

When we try to avail what is due to us, they resort to oppressing us.

What decision can the petition committee of the Lower House take in this matter? Can the committee direct the Railways to implement what the labour commissioner and the high court had ordered?

The parliamentary committee can make a recommendation to the government which can put pressure on the ministry of railways.

Is it just putting pressure on the Railways, or when they recommend, is the Railway bound to follow what they tell them to do?

The role of the parliamentary committee is only recommendatory, it is not mandatory to follow.

The parliamentary committee can only make a recommendation.

Even though the committee's role is only recommendatory, when a parliamentary committee asks a ministry to follow certain rules, it will put pressure on the ministry.

At least whats what we are hoping for.

When loco pilots are in charge of a train which carries hundreds of people or goods, they have to be alert and well-rested. Still, why is it that the Railways is reluctant to let you have enough rest hours? What is the excuse?

It is part of the drive by the Railways to reduce the number of employees.

The Railways is today running the train services with 30% less number of loco pilots.

The Railways has been filling in only 15% to 20% of the vacancies.

The main reason why we are denied what is due for us is only because they are not recruiting people.

In January 2024, the Railway Recruitment Board has notified 17,966 vacancies in the Indian Railways.

In 2025, the number of vacancies notified is another 9,500.

So, there are totally more than 25,000 vacancies in the Indian Railways now.

By the time the 2024 recruitment gets over, 2026 will be over. That means, another 9,000 plus vacancies will arise in 2026.

Is it because of people retiring?

Not just retirement. There is a huge increase in the number of new trains.

And you need at least one driver for one train!

In such a situation, what kind of pressure loco pilots go through these days?

The loco pilots are under extreme work pressure.

Our application for leave doesn't get sanctioned.

We suffer from many health issues like hypertension, diabetes, etc due to lack of rest and work pressure.

Most of the express trains run at night and when we don't get enough rest, it results in micro sleep while on duty.

A study conducted in 2015 found that 5 years of night duty results in hypertension among loco pilots.

When a loco pilot suffers from health issues, it affects his reflexes. Reflexes become slightly slow resulting in overshooting the signals.

When such an overshooting happens, we are given very harsh punishment. And the punishment as per the rule is dismissal of the loco pilot from service.

The Railways recently said that it had provided many amenities to loco pilots like urinals in over in over 900 locos, air-conditioning system in over 7,000 locos...

There are over 16,000 locos running across the country!

They are talking about urinal facilities but they are water-less.

You have to also understand that there are around 3,000 women loco pilots working for the Indian Railways.

If the Railways did not meet your demands on rest hours, you said the loco pilots would go on a national strike...

We are waiting for what the parliamentary committee would say.

If there is no other option, we have to go on a nationwide strike.

Although we are hopeful, we are also getting prepared for an all India strike.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff