NEW DELHI, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing bus strike in southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu Wednesday entered seventh straight day, officials said.
Th strike intensified with family members of employees of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) joining the demonstrations.
The protests escalated after local government issued notices to nearly 60,000 workers of the corporation for abstaining from work.
"Our protests would continue across the state until our demands are met," said A Soundarrajan, a trade union leader.
At some places, the government has pressed into service temporary drivers to build pressure on the striking employees and also rid the public of the inconvenience caused due to the strike.
On Monday, the Madras high court directed the state government not to terminate any of the striking employees without its permission.
The striking employees have been fighting for over a year for wage revision and clearance of arrears including retirement benefits and provident fund.
Chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Tuesday in state's lawmaking body urged workers to withdraw their strike.
Tamil Nadu has over 22,000 buses with a workforce of about 143,000 employees.
"So far over 10 rounds of talks have been held between the trade union leaders and government representatives," an official said. "Even state's transport minister M R Vijayabhaskar has also talked to the striking employees."
The opposition party leader M K Stalin has urged the Chief Minister to hold talks with the staff representatives directly to end the stalemate.
Stalin said the public was facing problems due to the strike.
