Calcutta CWC Meeting – 18-20 March 1993

The Central Working Committee of E.III Union was held at Calcutta from 18^th to 20^th of March 1993. Calcutta comrades had made convenient arrangements for the holding of the CWC. It was held at Yuba Kendra, Moulali, in the centre of the city.

The three day CWC gave a clarion call to the leaders and workers to rise above the differences and help settling the problems in E.III Union through discussions so that the Telecom workers can unitedly  organize struggles for defending their rights and interests in the face of severe attacks  due to the retrograde policies of the central government resulting in the threat of massive and indiscriminate computerization and consequential danger of redundancy, retrenchment, mass scale transfers etc.

The CWC was presided over by V.A.N.Namboodiri, President and Moni Bose, General Secretary, presented the report on activities. It strongly protested against the move of corporatization and privatization of telecom services. A strong and united movement is required to resist the anti-worker proposals. The CWC meeting adopted a 30 Points Charter of Demands, including the upgradation of all officials to the restructured cadre after training and re-training. The CWC appealed to SG, NFTE to end disruption of E.III Union and accept democratic functioning.

In order to achieve the demands in the charter, the following programmes of action were decided:

1. 09-23 April 1991 : Charter of Demands Campaign
2. 04 May 1993 : Charter of Demands Day
3. 17-21 May 1993 : Demonstration Week
4. 04 June 1993 : Dharna

E.III Union requested for joint programmes to SG, but he flatly refused.

However, all these programme were successfully implemented by the E.III Union.

March to Sanchar Bhawan – 18^th August 1993

On the call of the All India Telecom Employees Union Class III (E.III Union), about one thousand telecom workers made their presence felt on the streets of the capital culminating in a massive dharna in front of Sanchar Bhawan on 18^th August 1993. They came from almost all states by train, buses and other public vehicles. The well decorated and commodious hall of Hindu Mahasabha provided the accommodation for those coming from distant places that needed overnight stay. Others who came by buses/tempos etc. assembled in front of the Mavlankar Hall and finally these streams converged in to the dharna in front of Sanchar Bhawan, the office of the Secretary, DOT.  The Sanchar Bhawan March was in continuation of the four phased programmes adopted at the Calcutta CWC meeting for the realisation of the 30 Point Charter of Demands.

Section 144 was in vogue in the entire area and the telecom administration denied entry inside Sanchar Bhawan as a matter of routine practice. The only course left was to defy the 144 and hold the dharna in the prohibited area, just in front of Sanchar Bhawan. Banners and festoons, posters and placards and shouting of slogans – all these indicated the militancy and the struggle-mood of the workers. The whole area was surrounded by van loads of police and para-military forces. They contemplated mass arrests for violating the law. It was the direct intervention of the TU leaders and MPs which saved the situation.

Exactly at 10.00 AM, the dharna started with V.A.N.Namboodiri, All India President of the union, in the chair. The General Secretary, Moni Bose, welcomed the participants and explained that the purpose of the programme was to break the stalemate and securing justice from the department for the settlement of the fully justified 30 Points Charter of Demands. It was also to show the solidarity of the telecom workers to fight the menace of large-scale privatisation, which was in the offing. The President hailed the workers’ indomitable spirit exhibited in their massive participation. A good number of women comrades were also present.

Com. Suseela Gopalan, M.P., Chairman of the  Co-Ordinating Committee of P and T Unions in Kerala and a Member of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Communications Ministry, inaugurated the dharna. She hailed the fighting spirit of telecom workers and assured full help and co-operation in the struggle. Com. Saifudheen Choudhary, M.P., greeted the participants  and declared that their struggles for realization of the justified demands will get support from all sides. Com. Ram Vilas Paswan, M.P., strongly criticized the government policies and called upon the telecom workers  to fight for the reversal of such anti-people policies. Com. Chitta Basu, M.P., spoke and gave full support. The leaders of the P and T TU movement, Coms. B.K.Banerjee, RL Bhattacharjee, P.S.Raman Kutty, R.S.Yadav and others addressed the dharna.

The leaders urged upon the telecom workers to play the van guard role in organizing a joint united movement of all central government employees for the realization of basic demands and ensure that the  proposed strike of CG employees by the end of September be a resounding success. The “United Struggle Day” on 25^th August is to be organized in an effective manner to prepare the ground for the strike in September, in case the demands are not conceded by the government.

All the leaders appealed the telecom workers to respond to the call of the union and participate in the General Strike and Bharat Bandh on 9^th September 1993, to fall in line with the people of our country for  the reversal of the wrong economic policies of the central government and against communalism.

After the Dharna was over, the important functionaries of the union at Circle and district levels assembled at the Dharmashala Hall under the presidentship of V.A.N.Namboodiri. R.S.Yadav, B.P.Singh, J.Sampath Rao, A.C.Shah, K.M.Pillai, Shibdas banerjee, Harcharan Singh, H.S.Dhillon, K.D.M.Tripathy, Tundam, S.R.Nayak and Amina Banerjee addressed the meeting.

General Secretary Moni Bose summed up the discussion and declared amidst cheers that the progressive leadership in E.III Union, while fighting against the disruption from within and outside, will carry forward the crusade for unity and united action against the massive privatization for which a continuous discussion with the Federations/Associations would be carried on. (To be continued)