Category Archives: PSU

Matters connected with Public Sector Units (PSU)

MTNL, BHEL on the privatisation list – Oppose and defeat the move.

13 Sunday May 2018

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The Modi government is on the route to entirely sell all the Public Sector Units, whether profitable or non-profitable. It is implementing its assurance to the corporate lobby for the lakhs of crores of rupees received by them in the election campaign. The next Parliamentary elections are coming and more funds are required. The best thing is to gift the PSUs to the corporates and get further huge donations from them.

The latest is the implementation of the directions of the NITI Ayog (or ANITI(Injustice) Ayog ) to sell the profitable BHEL, the loss making MTNL and a few other PSUs for garnering Rs. 29,647 crore. Some of these are Navaratna PSUs. NITI Ayog has earlier directed the government to sell Air India, the prime Indian air line.

MTNL is the PSU operating telecom services in the metro cities of Delhi and Mumbai, while all other places are served by BSNL. It is only due to the anti-PSU policy of the continued governments at the centre that MTNL has become loss making. Unlimited corruption by the top management is another reason for loss. The company owns land, building, quarters and equipment worth lakhs of crores of rupees in both Mumbai and Delhi. There are more than 25,000 workers whose future is in peril.

We demand that the government should withdraw from this anti-PSU and anti-national move. It is misuse of power to sell the property of the nation to a few corporates. Strong protest actions should be organised and the government move defeated.

Out of the three telecom PSUs, VSNL is already sold to TATA. MTNL is in the list for sale. Next will be BSNL. It is only because of BSNL and MTNL that the telecom services are most cheap in India. Once these are privatised, the call rates /charges will at least be increased ten times or more as is the case with many other countries. Privatisation is not a loss to the MTNL/BSNL subscribers alone, but will a great loss to the telephone /mobile subscribers all over the country whether they are subscribers of Reliance Jio, Vodafone, Idea etc.

The people as a whole should oppose and defeat the privatisation of the telecom PSUs, BSNL and MTNL.

All India Convention of the Central Public Sector Trade Unions at New Delhi on 30.05.2018.

05 Saturday May 2018

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According to the decision taken in the meeting of the Public Sector Trade Unions, held at Ernakulam on 08-04-2018, an All India Convention of the Public Sector Trade Unions will be held on 30th May 2018, at New Delhi. The venue of the convention is Ghalib Institute, near ITO Metro Station, New Delhi.

The convention is being conducted on the following issues:-

Against privatisation.
Demanding withdrawal of gazette notification on Fixed Term Employment.
Demanding withdrawal of all restrictions and anti-worker preconditions on right to Collective Bargaining.
Fair and satisfactory wage revision of CPSU workers.
(BSNLEU website)

CPSTU Convention decides for agitational programmes on Disinvestment / sale of PSUs etc.

09 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by in BSNLEU, Disinvestment, PSU

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Central Public Sector Trade Unions (CPSTUs) decided to intensify struggles against privatisation and to settle wage revision.
The Central Public Sector Trade Unions conducted a one day convention at Ernakulam, yesterday. 340 delegates participated in the Convention, from all the major Central Public Sector Undertakings. Com. Tapan Sen, General Secretary, CITU, inaugurated the Convention. Com.P.Abhimanyu, GS, BSNLEU, addressed the convention, and gave a detailed picture of how the government is trying to finish off BSNL, by forming the Subsidiary Tower Company. He also narrated about the sustained struggles of the BSNL employees to safeguard BSNL. The GS, BSNLEU also briefed the convention about the developments in the wage revision issue of the BSNL employees. The meeting decided the following action programme on the key issues:-

To conduct a nationwide campaign programme in all the Public Sector undertakings.
To send Fax to the Prime Minister and Minister of Heavy Industries.
To conduct a National Convention on 25th May, at New Delhi, against privatisation, Fixed Term Employment and on wage revision issue.
calendar 09 – Apr – 2018
Massively organise dharnas on 12-04-2018, demanding the rolling back of the Subsidiary Tower Company.
Compelling the government to roll back the Subsidiary Tower Company is the priority task of the trade union movement of BSNL. To achieve this, the All Unions and Associations of BSNL has called on the BSNL employees to organise massive dharnas throughout the country on 12-04-2018. CHQ calls upon the circle and district unions to coordinate with the other constituents of the AUAB, and to mobilise maximum number of Non-Executives and Executives in the dharnas.(Courtesy: BSNLEU website)

No proposal for merger of BSNL and MTNL – Communications Minister

07 Saturday Apr 2018

Posted by in BSNL, PSU

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Shri Manoj Sinha, Communications Minister in reply to a question in Parliament stated on 6th April 2018 that
‘At present, there is no proposal for merger of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL)’.

The proposal was there earlier, but the government was compelled to shelve it since the unions took a strong stand that before merger, that the huge loss of MTNL should be written off and that the more than 46% share sold by MTNL should be bought back. If that is accepted by the government, both BSNL and MTNL will be benfitted. The government does not want to accept the unions’ proposal, since it will strengthen both BSNL and MTNL, which it does not want.

Failing the merger proposal, Government is on the move to divide BSNL by bifurcating Tower business, to destroy BSNL. The entire unions are against the formation of a separate company. They are on struggle against formation of Tower Company since it is the end of BSNL. Through sustained struggles, Unions are on the move to defeat the bifurcation proposal of the government.

Privatisation / closure of BSNL is not only against the interest of the workers, but also against the best interests of the more than 110 crore mobile/ telephone subscribers. The tariffs of the private companies are less, only because BSNL/MTNL are there. Once they are finished, the tariffs will go high as much as twenty times, as in international level. Hence as long as BSNL exists, it is beneficial for the entire country. Once it is not there, subscribers will be at the mercy of the corporates, as is the case with the diesel and petrol prices now. The prices will go far beyond the international prices to recover the present losses to the telecom companies. It is the responsibility of the workers that this truth is communicated to the people.

Stop Privatisation of Air India – Employees’ Unions to the Prime Minister

06 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in Disinvestment, PSU

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MUMBAI: Eight employee unions of Air India have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising serious concerns about the disinvestment of the national carrier and have sought an alternative revival plan.
In a letter, signed by representatives of the eight unions, they have also flagged possibility of job losses in case of privatisation.

Air Corporation Employees Union, All India Service Engineers’ Association, Air India Employees Union, Aviation Industry Employee Guild, Air India Aircraft Engineers’ Association, All India Aircraft Engineers’ Association, Air India Engineers Association and United Air India Officers Association have written the letter.

Together, these unions represent more than 10,000 Air India employees.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has sought Expression of Interest (EoI) from potential bidders for a 76 per cent stake sale in loss-making Air India as well as divestment of two of the carrier’s subsidiaries.

“We strongly protest Government of India’s move to privatise or disinvest Air India/subsidiaries as it is against the interest of the country and urge the government to review its decision… and explore the possibility of an alternative to disinvestment/ privatisation,” it said.

According to the letter, a copy of which has been seen by PTI, the unions said Air India can be restored to its “pristine glory” if debt worth Rs 30,000 crore is waived off or the loan is restructured and a proper roadmap is put in place with effective management.

Referring to the previous NDA government’s decision to sell two Centaur Hotels properties in Mumbai, the letter said there have been job losses after it.

“In our view, privatisation of Air India should be completely avoided with an effective revival plan with the participation of employees. It is also urged to write off/ restructure the loan for Air India revival instead of giving benefit to any private entity,” the letter, dated April 3, said.

Among others, the unions noted that the airline has never defaulted on interest repayments. (Courtesy: Times of India)

Protest privatisation of Air India, the Jewel of the Nation.

29 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by in Disinvestment, PSU

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The decision of the central government to disinvest 76% shares of Air India, the national carrier called the Jewel of the Nation, is completely against the interest of the nation and is part of the aggressive privatisation move of the government to eliminate all PSUs to suit to the requirement of the private corporates to grab maximum profits. There is no justification for the privatisation of Air India, except that by doing so, the private carriers will get a hay day for raising the charges and garnering huge profits at the cost of the passengers.

Air India was one of the profit making excellent PSUs till the government merged Indian Airlines with it and ordered a large number of planes paying huge amount, when that much number of planes were not at all necessary and viable.
It is reported that the bid worth for Air India is fixed at Rs. 5,000 crore. With its large number of planes, the space it has got in all the airports, the machinery, the buses and other infrastructure, Air India will be having an asset of more than Rs. 20,000 crore at the least. Of course, privatisation is a process through which the valuable PSUs are gifted to the corporates for name sake price.

Strong protest should come up against this anti-people move of the government and the privatisation should be defeated.

Action Programmes by All Unions Associations of BSNL

28 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by in BSNL, PSU, SAVE BSNL CAMPAIGN

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The decisions taken by the meeting of the AUAB after the historic Sanchar Bhawan March is reproduced below. The nefarious game of the government to destroy BSNL should be defeated at all costs. The programme includes (1) Massive dharnas on 12th April 2018 at Corporate Office, Circles and districts (2) March to Governors’ residences and submission of memorandum on 24-04-2018 and (3) National Convention at New Delhi on 9th / 10th May 2018. (4) Contacting M.P.s to address the Convention.
The AUAB Circular is given below:

After today’s demonstration programme, that was held in front of the Sanchar Bhawan, an
emergency meeting of the AUAB was held in FNTO’s office. The meeting was presided
over by Com.Chandeshwar Singh, GS, NFTE BSNL. Representatives of BSNLEU, NFTE,
SNEA, AIBSNLEA and FNTO attended this meeting. The following decisions are taken:-
(1) The meeting thanked and congratulated all the comrades who participated in today’s
demonstration in front of Sanchar Bhawan, defying the prohibitory orders of the
police, and making the demonstration a resounding success.
(2) The meeting decided that the AUAB should intensify it’s struggle, demanding the
rolling back of the Subsidiary Tower Company. To achieve this, it is decided that
massive dharnas should be conducted at the Corporate Office, circle and district
levels on 12.04.2018. It is also decided that the AUAB should inform the BSNL
Management that, the employees will go on indefinite strike, if the BSNL Board gives
it’s approval to the direction of DoT, for making the Subsidiary Tower Company
operational.
(3) The meeting reviewed the progress in the wage revision matter. As agreed upon in
the meeting held with the Hon’ble MoS(C) on 24.02.2018, the DoT has sent the file
for the approval of the DPE. It is decided that the leaders of AUAB shall meet the
Secretary, DPE, tomorrow the 28.03.2018, to press for an early approval by the
DPE.
(4) It is decided that “March to Governor’s Residence” programme should be conducted
in all circle head quarters on 19.04.2018, and memorandum should be submitted to
the Governor’s. This “March to Governor’s Residence” should be effectively utilised
to make a campaign among the general public, against the Subsidiary Tower
Company.
(5) The meeting decided that a National Convention should be organised in the
Mavalankar Hall at New Delhi, on 09th or 10th May, 2018, demanding the rolling back
of the Subsidiary Tower Company. It is also decided that prominent MPs should be
invited to address this Convention.

AIBDPA has called upon all its units to fully participate in the agitational programme. The call is given below:

“It is a do or die battle, involving the very survival of BSNL. So nobody ,who wants BSNL to continue as a viable PSU extending telecom services to the people of all parts of the country at affordable rates, could be a mere on looker , when an agitation for protecting it takes place. So as in the past, AIBDPA also should be part of this struggle. CHQ office bearers, Circle Secretaries and District Secretaries are requested to take the initiative to ensure maximum participation of pensioners in the Mass Dharna on 12-04-2018 and the March to Governor’s Residence (Raj Bhawan) on 19-04-2018.”

How Pension Revision should be implemented for the BSNL absorbed DOT Pensioners?

25 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by in AIBDPA - BSNL DOT Pensioners, BSNL, PSU, VII CPC

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After the mighty massive Parliament March by the BSNL Workers and pensioners as per the call of the BSNL All Unions and Associations and also fully supported by the AIBDPA (All India BSNL DOT Pensioners Association), the DOT as well as the Communications Minister have been compelled to meet the General Secretaries and discuss the issue in right earnest. It has been assured by the Minister that the issues will be forwarded to the Government. So far, well and good. The Ministry should recommend with full facts and figures furnished by the Unions/Associations and recommend for wage revision as well as Pension revision. If the government does not settle the issue further struggle will follow.

What should be the method of pension revision? Whether it should be based on the CDA scale of VII CPC or the IDA Scale of III PRC? Actually there need be no doubt about the same, but some confusion is being made by some comrades, which will complicate the whole issue and delay the pension revision. These comrades feels that since BSNL is already in loss and there will be no wage revision in future and hence no pension revision also. So their suggestion is that the demand should be pension revision on the basis of the VII CPC in the CDA scale.

Let us look in to the relevant facts:

1. Till October 2000, when BSNL as formed, all were government employees and they got Pay revision and Pension revision on the basis of the V CPC (1996).

2. BSNL employees retired from 2000 onward got  pension in IDA scale based on the wage revision of BSNL employees in IDA scale in 2000. The DOT pensioners did not get this benefit. This was one advantage for the BSNL pensioners and their pension was fixed in the IDA scale ( and not CDA scale). This was beneficial to them.

3. DOT Pensioners got their pension revision on the basis of VI CPC in CDA scale from 01-01-2006. They got the pension revision after 6 years of the IDA pension revision which was in 2000.

4. BSNL pensioners  got pension revision in IDA scale from 01-01-2007 on the basis of the wage revision of BSNL employees, increasing much higher than the DOT pensioners.

5. DOT Pensioners has got pension revision with effect from 2016 in CDA scale on the basis of the VII CPC

6. As per the convention and on the example of the wage revision  of 2000 and 2007 pension revision, the present pension revision should be on the basis of of the III PRC on IDA scale. This is only logical and convincing. Since the government has already removed the 60:40 condition and is committed to pay the full pension, it need not wait for the wage revision of BSNL employees. It can implement 15% fitment as suggested by the III PRC, which is higher than that of VII CPC. This will benefit the BSNL pensioners.

7. The demand for pension revision of BSNL pensioners on the basis of VII CPC CDA scale, will create a lot of anomalies, will reduce the pension and also create serious dispute between those pensioners retired before 2017 and after 2017. Changing pension revision from IDA to CDA after two pension revision have been made in 2000 and 2017 will have serious consequences for the pensioners.

8. The thinking that there will be no wage revision for BSNL employees now and in future is a negative thinking, which the government want to impress upon the workers. CPCs have also stated that in future, there need be no pay commission. What will be the result? The working class, whether in the government or in the PSUs will never allow such a situation. We have to be positive and negative.

On the above and other many fully justified reasons, the best and logical demand is that the pension revision of the BSNL pensioners should be made from 01-01-2017 on 15% fitment which is recommended by the III PRC, and also with out waiting for the wage revision of employees, since the affordability clause and profit and loss conditions are not applicable to the government. We should not make any demand which will reduce the pension, make the issue complicate and bring many anomalies which will take years to settle or not settle at all. We should not divide the BSNL pensioners in to two camps, which will reduce our fighting power.

Sanchar Bharati’s bold stand appreciated

16 Friday Feb 2018

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The strong stand of the management of Sanchar Bharati, a central PSU, against the autocratic directions of the central government is to be appreciated. According to the reports in the press, Chairman and members of the Prasar Bharati Board has taken strong exception to the ‘directives’ of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to terminate the services of all the contractual employees of the Prasar Bharati. They also opposed the direction of the Ministry to appoint two journalists in the PSU at exorbitant pay to the tune of Rs. one crore a year, which comes more than the salary of the President of India. At present, the topmost pay in the Prasar Bharati is only Rs. 1.6 lakh in a month and to increase it to more than 8 lakh is preposterous.

Congratulations to Prasar Bharati Board for taking bold decisions! The Modi government stands exposed for recommending to retrench the workers and also directing the PSU to appoint and pay exorbitant salary to its nominees.

Bank of India also in loss

13 Tuesday Feb 2018

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We have mentioned in our posts about the huge loss of the SBI in the quarter ending December 2016, which was unprecedented and happened after 12 years. Now it has been revealed that Bank of India is also in loss for the same quarter to the tune of Rs. 2,341 crore. It had posted profit in the earlier quarter.

The main reasons of the loss are Demonetisation and the increasing NPA. Thousands of crores of rupees are taken as loan by the corporates and the same is not remitted to the bank, which is treated as NPA and written off. In December alone the NPA rose to Rs. 64,249 crore in Bank of India.

If it is bad loans from ordinary people, it is forcefully taken back, even by employing goondas and  coercion. But when it is the corporates and high people in society, the bad loans are written off!

And the government is moving to pass the FRDI Bill, which will enable the Banks to take away the hard earned  money of the depositors to cover up the losses. The big corporates never keep much money in banks and hence no loss to them. It is the hard earned money of the toiling masses and middle class, which will be confiscated to compensate the NPA.

The fight to save our deposits in the Banks will have to start without delay.