CITU denounces Civil Aviation Minister\’s Statement on Privatisation of Air India

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Press Statement issued by CITU against Privatisation Statement of Civil Aviation Minister
October 6, 2013
The Centre of Indian Trade Unions denounces the statement of the Civil Aviation Minister on privatization of Air India as published in today\’s Times of India. Honorable Minister must note that the Air India belongs to the nation and is not the property of the council of ministers of the UPA Government. The Minister must also note that the precarious financial situation the Air India is facing today is the creation of the reckless and irresponsible experiment of merger of Air India and Indian Airlines by the Ministry and also the irresponsible decision to purchase aircrafts without preparing for making use of them immediately following arrival of the new aircrafts.

The Committee of Public Undertakings (COPU) made clear observation as above, making the government and Civil Aviation ministry in particular responsible for such huge loss of Air India while recommending concrete corrective measures. The Government did not deliberately act upon these recommendations thereby making the financial situation more critical for Air India. This has given the Minister an opportunity for this proposal for privatization.

The honorable minister mentioned about political will for privatization. At present the Centre is politically inclined to sell and privatize not only Air India but every productive asset and vital infrastructure at its disposal, to the satisfaction of its patrons in the corporate lobby, both domestic and foreign. The Civil Aviation Ministry\’s anxiety for privatization is also visible from it\’s hectic move to hand over free of cost 20 airports of the country to private hands on a revenue sharing basis. Most of these airports were modernized and expanded with huge capital investment of around Rs 20,000 crore plus by Government owned Airport Authority of India.

The CITU calls upon the trade union movement and the workers and employees in general to unitedly protest and resist such anti-people moves of the government for privatization of the entire civil aviation sector to the detriment of national interest.

National Councils (2003 -2013) – A Review of the Meetings (3)

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The 3rd Membership Verification was held on 19th December 2006. BSNLEU again won in the verification with 56.97 % votes and NFTE got second position with 32.85 %. BSNLEU alone was recognized. The National Council was formed with Shri Thomas John as Leader and Com. V.A.N.Namboodiri as the Secretary Staff Side. The first meeting after the III verification was held on 11th April 2007. Before that, a special meeting with CMD was held after issue of strike notice.
Special Meeting with CMD BSNL after Notice for agitational programme including strike – 3 days discussion on 2nd,3rd & 5TH March 2007 and settlement.
Refund of CGEIS will be speeded up
Number of members in Staff Side at National Council is increased to 15.
Formation of Works Committees agreed.
Management agreed to increase the number of office-bearers of the union.
Wage Negotiations will start without delay.

XIV Meeting of National Council – 11th April 2007
CMD Shri Kuldip Goyal was present in the meeting. Director (HRD) chaired the meeting. The Management congratulated and welcomed the new Staff Side formed after the III Membership Verification and presented bouquets and souvenir in the form of wrist watches. Staff Side greeted and welcomed the Official Side.
The enhancement of Earned Leave and encashment was extended to the Industrial Workers in Telecom Factory, Stores etc.
Transport Allowance granted to Group D employees.
New Recruitment Rules for Sr.TOA (G) accepted. Progress made in the Direct Recruitment of TTAs. Second option to BSNL for those who have not opted earlier was allowed.
As part of the earlier agreement, the number of staff side members in the National Council was increased from 14 to 15.
It was decided to hold the Standing Committee Meetings on a monthly basis,to review the actions taken on the decisions of the NC.
More facilities as suggested by the staff will be provided in Holiday homes.
Restoration of CGM powers for sanction of posts agreed.
Training facilities for non-executives for challenging competition on customer care will be provided.
The Official side agreed to convey the protest of the staff side with regard to the DOT order dated 15-06-2006 putting conditions on the pension contribution and its relation with the total pension being paid.
The Management agreed favourably to consider the cases of medical reimbursement for Laser treatment etc. which are not included in the CGSH scheme.
Considering the strong protest of the staff side, the proposal to close the DTOs in Mumbai was shelved.
The counting of past services for officials worked in Dandakaranya project agreed.
Prestigious and specialty hospitals were agreed to be incorporated for BSNLMRS.
On the demand of the staff side, it was agreed to pay Rs. 10,000 as Minimum Bonus for this year , instead of Rs. 7,000.
MTNL and BSNL agreed to sort out the issues with regard to the telephone connections in their area, of the BSNL and MTNL employees respectively.
Special Meeting held on 27th July 2007 with Director (HRD)
On the demand of the union, it was agreed that an exploratory meeting will be held on the wage revision demand.
Regarding the anomaly of the wage revision from CDA to IDA pay scale w.e.f. 01-10-2000, the management side agreed to speed up the discussion. The proceedings of the Promotion Committee also will be speeded up.
Shifting of Corporate office from Statesman building to own building will be expedited. Some portion has already been shifted. (Detailed minutes were issued for the meeting).
XV Meeting of NC – 30th July 2007
Repayment of CGEGIS cases settled.
Shifting of C.O. to Bharat Sanchar Bhawan will be completed shortly.
2nd Option orders issued and the date also extended to 31st July as requested by Staff side.
600 CGA cased finalised. 200 cases yet to be examined.
The discussion with the banks is continuing for grant of loans through Banks.
Approval for recruitment of 500 TTAs issued.
ACP up to 2007 for the corporate staff issued by management.
Orders for provision of concessional telephones for BSNL retired employees issued.
Training for union leaders conducted at Sunder Nagar.
On the demand of the Staff Side, after long discussion, the management clarified that in the recruitment rule under consideration for Management Trainee, for internal candidates with BE qualification, a quota of 25% is proposed without any condition of being executive or non-executive.
JTO pay scales for Chemists will be considered.
It was decided that the DDG(TF) and Secretary, Staff Side will visit all the 7 Telecom Factories to have an on the spot assessment of the production side, welfare measures etc. and submit their recommendations to C.O.
CGMs will be given permission to fill up the vacancies in Malappuram and Pathanamthitta SSAs in Kerala Circle.
Works Committees formed as per the agreement in the NC vide order dated 09-10-2007.
XVI Meeting of NC – 20th /21st September 2007
CMD Shri Kuldip Goyal attended the NC meeting on 20th September 2007.
(As per the demand of the BSNLEU raised with the Minister Communications, a Committee was formed by the Secretary DOT with four DDGs of DOT, DDG(SR) of BSNL and General Secretary, BSNLEU to discuss issues which involve both DOT and BSNL. 5 meetings were held and some of the issues sorted out.)
Transfer policy as per the discussion with the union was notified on 06-09-2007
Anomaly issue of 2000 wage revision forwarded to DOT for approval.
Management (CMD) agreed to pay Rs. 10,000 as minimum bonus for the present year as per demand of the union.
Staff Side suggestion for reducing the service period eligibility for JTO examination to 5 years will be considered.
Staff Side demand for scrapping of Telephone Advisory Committee (TAC) will be forwarded to DOT by Management.
On the issue of VRS/CRS, the management agreed that “without consulting them (union), no further action will be taken.”
Consequent to the Strike notice by BSNLEU for 12th December 2007, special meetings for 3days, on 20th 23rd and 29th November 2007, were held between BSNL Management and BSNLEU (United Forum) and the following decisions were arrived at:
Reminder will be issued to SSAs to hold the Works Committees.
The Management will pursue with the DOT for early approval of the Anomaly Committee report by the Joint Committee of Official and Staff Sides.
Committee recommendations on Five Time Bound Promotion Policy will be finalized by February 2008
Issues of Civil Wing, Telecom Accounts, Corporate Office, LDC/UDC upgradation, Framing of RRS for corporate office staff, regularisation of LDC/UDC, regularization of LDC/UDC, filling up of vacancies of Assistant Grade etc.will be speeded up.
Telecom Factory issues will be favourably considered.
735 CG appointments made and 588 approved cases are pending for want of vacancies.
Regularisation of casual labour – On the plea of the SC judgment in Umadevi case, management did not agree. Staff side insisted regularization since it was due to administrative delay that they were not regularized earlier.
Special Meeting of the Joint Forum with CMD on issues of Development and Expansion on 23rd January 2008.
XVII Meeting of NC – 11th February 2008
Exploratory meeting on Wage Revision held as assured.
All cases of CGA considered and completed.
Arrangements will be made for collection of huge arrears from subscribers.
The demand of the Staff Side for Interim relief pending wage revision will be considered.
XVIII Meeting of NC – 17th June 2008
Orders issued for deduction of subscription facility to all unions on 04-06-2008.
Agreed for direct recruitment of TTAs in 2008.
Second Option agreed to by the DOT and orders issued.
Diversion of 50% quota posts to LICE quota for Assts.and PAs of C.O. accepted.
Merger of 50% IDA with basic pay – orders issued on 29-05-2008.
Recruitment of Sports Persons will be expedited
General Promotion Policy will be extended to Civil Wing Staff also.
Canteen in Corporate Office will be provided.
Mobile connections and phones for non-executive staff would be examined based on merits.
Grant of HRA in qualified cities will be expedited.
Decline in market share of BSNL – urgent action required to improve
Agreed for change of designations of non-executive cadres as demanded by the staff side.
Eliminating wastage of funds – the suggestions made by the unions was accepted. Heads of Circle meetings will be held in C.O. instead of star hotels.
XIX Meeting of NC – 2nd September 2008
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) policy announced on 15-07-2008. Many suggestions made by the Union accepted.
500 posts of JTO diverted from DR quota to departmental quota to promote qualified officials.
Order issued on 01-07-2008 so that Restructured cadres will get the higher pay scales from actual date of completion of 26 years, instead of 1st January / 1st July.
Absorption process of Group “A’ posts started.
Orders issued for refund of saving fund account of CGEGIS.
For the Prime Minister’s Bihar Flood relief Fund, the staff side offered from employees @ Rs. 100/-
BSNL Office shifted to Bharat Sanchar Bhawan, BSNL’s own building.
Sanctioning of posts in new business area – norms will be finalized.
Upgradation of left out TOAs to Sr. TOAs – clarificatory orders to facilitate upgradation will be issued.
TSMs regularized as RM will be treated as DOT employees as decided by the DOT-BSNL-BSNLEU committee.
A Joint Committee of Official Side and Staff Side will be formed for recommending ‘Change of Designations’ for the non-executives.
XX Meeting of NC – 2nd December 2008
Com. V.Subburaman was elected Staff Side Leader in place of Shri Thomas John. Com. V.A.N.Namboodiri continues as Staff Side Secretary.
Agreement on Non-Executive Promotion Policy (NEPP) signed by both Official Side and Staff Side of the Joint Committee .
Purchase order for 95 million GSM lines placed.
Enhancement of stipend to JTO/JAO/TTA trainees made.
Decided to open Holiday Home at Sabarimala.
Management agreed to start wage revision discussion shortly. Interim Relief demand referred to DOT.
The pension anomaly of those retired within 10 months of formation of BSNL is under examination.
Merger of 50% IDA for retired BSNL employees has been referred to DOT after approval by the BSNL Board.
Repatriation of BSNL staff to DOT – Management stated that there is no provision for the same.
Management agreed to convert CTOs/DTOs to CSCs.
3G Mobile services will be started in 2009.
The staff side expressed strong protest in delay of compassionate ground appointments
The Staff Side walked out in protest against the decision of the BSNL Board to launch IPO.
This was the last meeting after the 3rd Membership verification. The IV Membership Verification was held on 21-01-2009. (contd.)

46 per cent global wealth owned by richest 1 per cent: Credit Suisse

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Zurich: Global wealth has risen by 68 per cent over the past 10 years to reach a new all-time high of $241 trillion and the United States accounts for nearly three quarters of the increase, Credit Suisse said in its World Wealth Report.

Average global wealth has hit a peak of $51,600 per adult but this is spread very unevenly, with the richest 10 per cent owning 86 per cent of the wealth, analysts at the Credit Suisse Research Institute said.

The top 1 per cent alone owns 46 per cent of all global assets.

The report further said that global wealth may jump another 40 per cent by 2018 to reach $334 trillion.

The richest nations, with wealth per adult of more than $100,000, are concentrated in North America, Western Europe and among the rich Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern countries.

They are headed by Switzerland, where average adult wealth amounts to $513,000, followed by Australia, Norway and Luxembourg.

However, two thirds of adults in the world have assets worth less than $10,000 and together account for just 3 per cent of global wealth.

Since mid-2012, the number of millionaires worldwide has risen by nearly two million, the vast majority of them in the United States, the report said. By contrast, Japan lost 1.2 million millionaires during the same period.

The rise in US wealth has been driven by a recovery in house prices and a bull equity market.

In Japan, the central bank’s aggressive monetary policy drove the yen/dollar exchange rate down by 22 per cent, leading to a drop in household wealth of $5.8 trillion this year alone, equivalent to 20 percent of Japanese net worth, the report said.

Despite its strong economic growth over the past decades, Chinese hold barely 9 per cent of global wealth while accounting for more than a fifth of the global adult population.

For Africa and India, the population share exceeds the wealth share by a factor of ten, the report showed.

Credit Suisse said there were 98,700 individuals with net worth exceeding $50 million, more than half of them in the United States. Europe ranked second, home to nearly 25,000.

The biggest emerging markets, the so-called BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India, and China – are each estimated to have around 5,830 such ultra-high net worth individuals.

Nevertheless, the number of billionaires in the BRICs has risen from 5 percent of the world’s total in 2000 to 19 per cent in 2010. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of billionaires in China alone rose from 1 to 64, the study showed.

By contrast, the number of billionaires in older developed countries such as France and Japan fell in that period.(Courtesy : NDTV)

EPF may get higher than 8.5% interest in 2013-14

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The continuous pressure by the central trade unions and the better performance may result in a slight increase of interest for the more than 5 crore EPF subscribers in 2013-14. Last year, the interest paid was 8.5%.

The interest will be announced after the meeting of the Central Board of trustees (CBT) chaired by the Central Labour Minister takes the decision.

“By 2047, coldest years will be warmer than hottest in the past”

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Danger signals are already there about the increasing heat of the earth, year after year, mainly due to the green house emissions and pollution. The climate is changing drastically, unlike in the past. Now a study by the scientists from the University of Hawaii at Manoa has calculated that by 2047, plus or minus five years, the average temperatures each year will be hotter across most parts of the planet till now.

The scientists put it in a sharp way: ” The coldest year in the future will be warmer than the hottest year of the past.”

Unless the governments and people of all the countries do not make coordinated efforts, the climatic condition is going to be drastic and a threat to man kind. But whether the governments,mainly that of the developed countries from where the green house emissions are the maximum, will hear and act?
(Courtesy: New York Times/NDTV)

Red Salute to Che Guevara on 51st anniversary of Martyrdom!

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Che Guevara, one of the greatest revolutionaries the world has ever seen, was murdered by the imperialists and their stooges on this day, 9th October 1967, in the forest of Bolivia, where he was fighting for the freedom of the country.

He was with Fidel Castro on their siege of Cuba for making the country free. He was a Minister of Cuba in the Fidel Castro Communist Government, but left every thing and went to Bolivia to continue his revolutionary activities. He was caught and killed in cold-blood.

Che Guevara Born on 14-06-1928.  Martyrdom 09-October 1967.

Red Salute Comrade! You will ever live in the memory of the exploited and the freedom loving people of the world!

National Convention in Defence of Secularism on 30th October 2013

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Lucknow Oct 9 The focus of the convention called by Left parties in Delhi later this month, in which leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Nitish Kumar will take part, will be on strengthening secular values and isolate communal forces.

CPI national secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan today said here that the Left leaders are trying to ensure participation of all secular parties in the convention.

The “National Convention in Defence of Secularism” will be held at Talkatora Indoor Stadium in Delhi on October 30.

Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, JD(U) leaders Sharad Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda have confirmed their participation, Anjaan said, adding that Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik is also likely to come.

Besides them, a large number of activists will also attend the convention, Anjaan said.

He said that this convention is being organised in the backdrop of Muzaffarnagar riots and repeated efforts by communal forces to create disturbances.

US shutdown denies death benefits to families of four dead soldiers

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The Govt. Shut Down is adversely affecting every thing in US. Even the families of the dead soldiers are denied the death benefits. What is happening in US. the leader of the capitalism? I am giving below a report from NDTV:

Washington: The families of four soldiers killed in Afghanistan last weekend will not receive death benefits or the money to pay for their funerals because of the government shutdown.

The bodies of Sergeant Patrick C Hawkins, 25; Pfc. Cody J. Patterson, 24; Sergeant Joseph M. Peters, 24; and First Lieutenant Jennifer M Moreno, 25, will arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday. The four soldiers were killed Sunday in the Zhari district of Kandahar province when enemy forces attacked their unit with explosives.

But if their families want to meet the plane, they will have to pay their own way to Delaware.

Under the shutdown, Carl Woog, a Defense Department spokesman, said Tuesday, “the Department of Defense does not currently have the authority to pay death gratuities and other key benefits for the survivors of service members killed in action.”

The benefits include $100,000 to each family; a 12-month basic allowance for housing, usually given in a lump sum to survivors commensurate with the rank of the service member; and burial benefits. The benefits are also being withheld from the family of Lance Cpl. Jeremiah Collins Jr, 19, of the Marines, whose death on Saturday in Helmand province is being investigated by the Pentagon. New hardships caused by the shutdown seem to emerge every day as the standoff between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans entered its second week. But the denial of benefits to the families of fallen soldiers – however temporary – led to an unusual burst of outrage. (Courtsey : NDTV)

Implement Reservation of 3% in jobs for Disabled – SC

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The Supreme Court has directed the central and state governments to ensure and strictly implement 3% reservation for the disabled. The condition that reservation should not be more than 50% of the jobs will not adversely affect the 3% reservation for disabled.

Membership Verification for Executive Unions in BSNL

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The BSNL Management has started preparations for conducting Membership Verification for grant of recognition to the majority executive union/s. As the first step, it had circulated the draft Recognition Rules and Regulations for Governing Conduct of membership Verification of Executives’ Associations in BSNL. The Executive Unions have been asked give their suggestions in the matter.