Historic Strike – Magnificent Achievement

The 3 days strike started on 1^st December 2010. The BSNL Offices and exchanges in the country were closed without anybody attending. It was a complete strike. The press gave good publicity. Sister unions like Confederation, NFPE, AIIEA, BEFI and others expressed solidarity and support. The BSNL workers going on strike to defend the company was well received by the public.

BSNL Management as well as Government did not expect such a full strike. The Secretary, DOT called the unions for discussion on 2^nd December 2010, the second day of the strike. CMD BSNL was present. After the discussion with DOT a meeting was held with the BSNL Management. Agreement was reached on the demands at about 2130 hours on the same day and the strike was deferred.

The official minutes of the meeting and the agreement is given below:

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited ( No.BSNL/7-15/SR/2010 dated 2^nd December 2010)

Representatives of BSNL Unions/Associations met with the Secretary (Telecom), DOT today where CMD BSNL was also present. A follow up meeting with BSNL Management under the Chairmanship of CMD, BSNL Shri Gopal Das, was also held at 15.00 hours on 2^nd December 2010 in which representatives of JAC as well as from the management side were also present.

In the course of the meeting, the unions emphasized on the following issues;

*Procurement of GSM equipment

*Benefit of 50% IDA merger in pay fixation

The management side clarified that action is under way for procurement of 5.5 million lines to meet the immediate demand for North and east Zones. In addition, a proposal is also being considered to procure 15 million lines for the next year.

On the issue of benefit of 50% IDA Merger in pay fixation (effectively amounting to 78.2%) CMD BSNL informed that the case has been deliberated in the 130^th meeting of the Board held on 25-08-2010 wherein the Board taking in to account all the pros and cons decided to defer the implement of the benefit of 50% IDA merger for pay fixation till the Company’s financial position improves considerably and there is visible signs of recovery. On further insistence by the JAC members, CMD requested the union leaders to provide fresh inputs on this issue which could be examined by the management before submitting the case to BSNL Board for its consideration. On the remaining issues, the position is given in Annexure-1

With this, CMD BSNL again requested the JAC members to withdraw its ongoing strike, to which the JAC members agreed.

The main points of the agreement were as follows:

1. No Disinvestment/IPO for the present
2. No unbundling of last mile copper
3. Pension Revision note will be resubmitted to cabinet for decision immediately
4. ITS Absorption issue –Cabinet Note circulated to related Ministries
5. Adequate procurement of mobile equipment will be expedited
6. 2% IDA pay fixation will again be discussed in BSNL Board
7. Projects and Programmes of development will be taken up
8. Commitment of Financial viability will be taken up with the government.

The agreement was signed by all the General secretaries and convener JAC, who have given the notice for strike. Thus the historic strike was called off after the second day. The BSNL workers were happy that the management and the DOT was compelled to agree to most of the demands raised by the JAC. A circular was issued by Convener JAC and General Secretaries congratulating the workers for the excellent strike and assuring that the JAC will continue the struggles for implementation of the agreement. (To be continued)

Strike postponed to  1^st to 3^rd December  2010

In view of the Bihar Assembly elections and Kerala Local body elections, the JAC meeting held on 23-09-2010 decided to postpone the 3 days strike from 19^th to 21^st October to 24^th to 26^th November 2010. Due to unavoidable circumstances again the strike dates were postponed to 1^st to 3^rd December 2010.

Strike Notice issued.

The notice for the three days strike was issued on 15-10-2010 signed by Coms. V.A.N.Namboodiri, Convener, JAC, P.Abhimanyu(BSNLEU), K.Vallinayagam(FNTO), Raj Kishore (BSNL WRU), V.Subburaman(TEPU), G.L.Jogi(SNEA(I), S.S.Tomar(BSNLMS), R.K.Kohli(NFTBE), (SNATTA), P.Venugopal(AIBSNLEA), D.P.Patwa(AIBCTES) and N.D.Ram(SEWA BSNL).

The Demands :

1. Refund of Rs. 18,500 crores to BSNL paid to government towards 3G and BWA spectrum charges.
2. 2% IDA Merger for wage revision w.e.f. 01-01-2007
3. Immediate settlement of ITS Group A absorption issue.
4. No Disinvestment/IPO of BSNL
5. No VRS
6. Procurement of adequate mobile equipments.
7. No unbundling of last mile copper cable.
8. Implement government’s commitments on financial viability of BSNL given at the time of corporatization by continuing exemption from Licence Fee, and continuation of ADC, USO Fund
9. Effective and expeditious implementation of implementation of programmes and projects like ERP, NGN etc. Immediate fool proof measures for smooth change over to CDR
10. Government departments and PSUs should be manadated to take telecom services from BSNL/MTNL only
11. Revision of Pension on IDA along with wage revision. Immediate revision of IDA pension of pre-2007 BSNL retirees.

Historic Parliament March on 15^th November 2010

In preparation for the 3 Days Strike from 1^st December 2010, the Joint Action Committee organized a massive March to Parliament on 15^th November 2010. Thousands and thousands of BSNL employees participated in the March which started from the Bharat Sanchar Bhawan, the Corporate office of BSNL. The March was stopped at the Parliament Street by the police where a huge  rally  was held. Com.Basudev Acharia, M.P., inaugurated the rally. Com.V.A.N.Namboodiri, Convener, JAC spoke in detail about the demands of the workers and the anti-BSNL decisions of the Government and the necessity of making the 3 days strike from 1^st December a great success. Coms. P.Abhimanyu(BSNLEU), G.L.Jogi(SNEA(I), Prahlad Rai(AIBSNLEA), C.Singh(NFTE) and other General Secretaries addressed.

Strike Notice issued

The Strike Notice for 3 days strike was issued signed by Coms. V.A.N.Namboodiri, Convener JAC, P.Abhimanyu(BSNLEU), Chandeshwar Singh (NFTE) & Chairman JAC, Suresh Kumar (BSNLMS), N.D.Ram(SEWA BSNL), S.C.Gaur(BSNLOA), G.L.Jogi (SNEA(I), Prahlad Rai (AIBSNLEA), Anil Kumar(BSNL ATM),K.Vallinayagam(FNTO), V.Subburaman(TEPU), Raj Kishore (WRU) and R.K.Ram (BTU BSNL). A Circular with details of the demands was circulated. Wall Posters were printed and distributed in large numbers. Parliament Members raised questions in the Parliament on the various issues mentioned in the strike notice. Press Releases were also issued by the JAC which were prominently published in the newspapers.

Struggle for Bonus

On the plea of loss to the company for the financial year, Bonus was denied to the BSNL workers. The JAC discussed the issue and decided to go on Hunger Strike on 15-10-2010. The same was organised effectively with good participation.  A Dharna was also organised on 28-10-2010. But the issue of payment of Bonus was not settled. (To be continued)