Tag Archives: Membership Verification

Victory for BSNLEU for the 7th consecutive term. Congratulations!

19 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

BSNL Employees Union has been elected as the majority union once again. Congratulations!

This the consecutive 7th time that BSNLEU has won as the majority union in the secret ballot election held on 16th September 2019. It got 48127 votes with 43.44 % of the total votes of non-executive employees. It is a great success. Congratulations to all the comrades who voted for BSNLEU as also who campaigned for it.

The victory of BSNLEU is the victory of the correct line taken by BSNLEU in defending the workers and fighting against the anti-worker policies of the government.

The workers have given clear mandate to BSNLEU. It is the duty of the organization to unite the workers for improving the services as also the condition of workers.

SAVE BSNL – SAVE NATION!

Executive Membership Verification over

10 Saturday Dec 2016

Posted by in General

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

The first  Membership Verification of Executives in BSNL was over on 7th December 2016 and counting completed on 9th.

Out of a total number of 44,412 executives, 42,007 (94.58%) voted. 251 ( 0.57%) votes were invalid. The major contestants SNEA(I) and AIBSNLEA got 20,128 (45.32%0 and 18,438 ( 41.52%) respectively. All other associations got less than 2% each.

We congratulate all the associations for the successful conduct of the membership verification, and especially the two major associations ; viz. SNEA(I) and AIBSNLEA who have both got more than 40%.

 

Why Vote for BSNLEU in the VII Membership Verification?

09 Monday May 2016

Posted by in BSNL, BSNLEU

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

The VII Membership Verification is to take place tomorrow, 10th May 2016. Each vote is important and is part of the democratic process for electing the Recognised Union/s. There are 19 unions in the contest, but they are mainly in three / four alliances. Most of the employees might have already decided about their choice of union. But still, there are a few workers, who may have not taken their final decision.

In this verification we have been asking the workers to vote for BSNL Employees Union in Ballot No.9, Cell Phone Symbol. Why vote for BSNLEU?

  1. BSNLEU is the union which during the last 15 years since formation of BSNL had campaigned for strengthening BSNL, the telecom PSU, united all the unions under JAC/JF/Forum and took initiative for the mighty struggles against the wrong policies of the government and ensured that BSNL survives and flourishes.
  2. BSNLEU is the architect of the two excellent wage revisions, in 2000 and 2007 respectively, which benefited the employees immensely and got reasonable wages.
  3. BSNLEU never compromised on the demands of the workers, but fought and got the justified demands in many issues.
  4. BSNLEU is the only recognised union in the PSUs, which demanded for the recognition of a second union and proportionate representation. NFTE got recognition only on the demand of BSNLEU.
  5. BSNLEU got implemented many new demands like NEPP, Group Insurance, Gift of HMT Watch, Bank Loans, regular conduct of examinations, reservation for SC/ST employees, Change of designations etc. etc. which the earlier recognised federations could not think of even demanding.

What are the main issues to be settled after verification?

  1. Wage Revision from 2017. Wage Revision after every 5 years instead of existing 10 years. This was demanded in the last wage negotiation. But since 10 year wage revision was already implemented for executives, the management did not agree. This time it should be ensured.
  2. Five Promotions. Each Promotion after every five years. This will mainly benefit the new recruitees having about thirty years of service before them.
  3. Five Days Week. This demand was raised at the time of the First Wage Negotiation, but was kept pending. Corporate office is functioning 5 days, Central Govt. employees are having 5 days week, MNCs are having  5 days week, some of the state government employees as in Rajasthan are having five days week, most of the private companies in metro cities work for five days. It is time  that this issue is raised once again which will give some relief to all, especially the women workers. Half an hour working can be increased on working days and rotation duties brought for Customer Service and other important operational functions, thus without affecting the service to the customers.
  4. Immediate action to be taken to remove stagnation of low paid employees, RM, TM etc.  by implementation of increment every year either through stagnation increment or open end pay scale etc.
  5. Payment of Minimum Bonus of Rs. 7,500. 
  6. 78.2% IDA Fixation for pre-June 2013 pensioners
  7. Restoration of LTC, Medical Allowance etc.
  8. Minimum Wage Rs. 18,000 for contract workers as demanded by 11 Central Trade Unions
  9. Reducing the service condition to Five Years to appear in examinations. This demand taken by BSNLEU is already implemented in the case of JTO examination. This should be extended to all the other examinations.
  10. Recruitment should be made in all cadres to ensure that young and talented workers for the more than 1,50,000 vacancies due to retirement during the last 15 years since formation of BSNL. This can be done by regularising the casual/contract workers, compassionate appointment by removing the 5% restriction etc and also by direct recruitment.
  11. Defined Pension for the BSNL Appointees. At present, the new recruitees of BSNL are deprived of defined pension as in the case of BSNL absorbed DOT employees. This is gross discrimination and injustice. This should be changed by granting defined pension to new recruitees.   In the meantime,30% supernumerary benefits should be implemented for them.
  12. The Government should support BSNL as per its assurance at the time of formation of the PSU. It should immediately refund to BSNL the Income Tax refund of Rs. 8,000-10,000 crore, refund the Spectrum charges coming to about Rs. 6,000 crore and pay the Rs.1,250 crores granted by the USO Fund for compensating the loss making connections provided in the rural areas.
  13. Ensure reservations in recruitment, promotion and in all respects to the SC/ST employees as provided in the Constitution.
  14. Increase the Group Insurance benefits from the present Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 3 lakhs and Rs.5 lakhs to at least to Rs. 3 lakhs, Rs. 5lakhs and Rs. t lakhs if not more.

These are only some of the most important demands. Many other issues concerning the BSNL employees will be taken.

VOTE FOR BSNLEU FOR THE BEST FUTURE OF BSNL AND ITS EMPLOYEES!

UNITY FOR STRUGGLE, STRUGGLE FOR UNITY AND UNITY AND STRUGGLE FOR PROGRESS!

 

The BSNL Membership Verification Campaign ends – Polling on 10th May 2016

08 Sunday May 2016

Posted by in BSNL News, BSNLEU

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, ,

The campaign by the non-executive unions in BSNL in connection with the membership verification for grant of recognition to the union/s ends by evening of today, 8th May 2016. The polling will take place on 10th May through out the country. The results will be announced on 12th May. All the Unions are trying their maximum to canvass at the end of the campaign.

Though it was not possible to cover all the circles/ states as in the past verifications, I attended campaign meetings in Kerala, Andhra, Karnataka, Maharashtra, ALTTC, Telecom Factory Mumbai, Rajasthan, Uttarakahnd, Odisha, UP East and UP West. (I was compelled to cancel the programme to Bihar in the last moment due to illness of my wife.). While General Secretary might have visited almost all the circles, other CHQ office-bearers shared the responsibility covering the entire SSAs. This was a great campaign in which hundreds of meetings were held, at least one in each SSA and much more. The exercise might have been done by other unions participating in the verification also.

All the BSNL buildings – offices, exchanges etc. were full of wall posters, banners, flags and other campaign materials of the unions. The social media like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, website, blogs etc.were also used. But one thing I noted was that the maximum publicity was done by BSNLEU, the main recognised union. With regard to the participation of workers in the meetings also, it always had the first position. Of course, the retirement of more than thirty thousand workers since the last verification reflected in the number of workers present.

The allies who changed sides – TEPU and NFTBE from BSNLEU camp to NFTE and SNATTA from NFTE camp to BSNLEU – naturally explained the reasons for their change. BSNLEU had a lot of achievements to campaign, while NFTE mainly concentrated in attacking BSNLEU. This is usual in any election, nothing special. Generally it did not go beyond the permissible limits and cordiality between the leaders and workers were maintained.

The third alliance lead by FNTO aimed not at getting recognition, but at least to get one seat in the councils, which it missed last time by a small margin of votes.

The trend as per my interaction with the workers, participation in the meetings and the general discussions is that BSNLEU, the present main recognised union, which got 48.6% of total votes last time, may get 52% to 55% or more and is expected to become the Sole Bargaining Agent and the only recognised union. The % of votes by NFTE is expected to come down marginally, despite its massive campaign.

Anyway, my assessment is on the basis of my experience in the areas I campaigned. For a better assessment, more statistical calculation is required. It can be done after the voting is over. Anyway, by 12th, the results will be out.

If BSNLEU gets more than 50% of votes as expected and become the Sole Bargaining Agent, the entire basic situation in negotiation will take a new form. BSNLEU will have to bear more responsibilities, being the lone recognised union.

Whatever is the result, all the unions/associations will have to jointly work for strengthening BSNL and also for improving the position of the workers.’STRUGGLE FOR UNITY, UNITY FOR STRUGGLE AND STRUGGLE AND UNITY FOR PROGRESS’ will have to continue as our main guiding policy.

VII Membership Verification in BSNL- Certain changes required

08 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

VII Membership Verification of non-executive unions is going to take place in April 2016, probably on 26th April and the counting on 28th instant.  Meeting is called by the management to discuss the matter with the participating/applicant unions.

From the past experience and also from a democratic point of view, certain changes are required in the process, adopted from the last Membership Verification, when a new system was introduced with the recognition of two unions, instead of the earlier one. BSNL Employees Union, which was the lone recognised union in the earlier 4 verifications, need to be congratulated for pressurising the management to agree for recognising the first two unions and getting it approved. It was a correct decision and was in vogue in the government departments, including DOT. But some undue restrictions have been made arbitrarily by the management, which needs to be modified. They are:

  1. The calculation of the % of votes received by the unions should be on the basis of the total polled votes. This is the system in the general elections viz. Parliament and Assembly elections. At present in BSNL, the % is calculated on the basis of the total eligible voters, which is not correct.
  2. The election for the posts of Leader and Secretary for Councils at all levels should be by the democratic verdict of the total council members. At present, the posts of Leader and Secretary are arbitrarily fixed for BSNLEU and NFTE respectively. This should be changed.
  3. The Recognised Union/s should have the right to nominate any employee to the council, limited to the number in their quota. At present, only a member of the recognised union can be nominated. This restriction is fully unjustified.
  4. One post of Director in the Board of Directors of BSNL should be reserved for the recognised union/s. This is as part of the union’s representation in the Management. This will not only improve the functioning of the management, but also the co-ordination between the management and the unions. This system is functioning  in Nepal Telecom which has paid much dividend.
  5. Periodicity of the National Council and other councils should be strictly maintained as also that of the Standing Committee.
  6. On those items in the council for which no agreement could be reached, should be arbitrated.
  7. Periodic meeting with Secretary DOT and Communications Minister to be part of the Scheme.

VII Membership Verification in BSNL – Membership Campaign

15 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in BSNL News, BSNLEU

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

It is learnt that the VII Membership Verification for electing the recognised non-executive union/s in BSNL will be tentatively held on 26th April and result declared on 28th April 2016.
In all the five membership verifications since 2004, BSNL Employees Union has won and has been recognised. In the VI Verification, two unions have been recognised as per the new rules and BSNLEU is the Main recognised union.

There is no doubt that BSNLEU will be the first union in this verification also. However, the effort should be to improve the % of votes from the last verification. It can surely be done.

As part of the campaign, the membership month from 16th December 2015 to 15th January 2016 should be effectively used to enrol maximum new members in BSNLEU. Branch/District Secretaries should start the membership campaign immediately, if not already started.