Tag Archives: Save BSNL’ Forum

Struggles by Workers to Defend and Save BSNL : 2004 – 2015 ( 28 )

15 Wednesday Jul 2015

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Memorandum to the  Communications Minister

In the general elections, UPA was  defeated and the NDA government was formed with Shri Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad is the new Communications & IT Minister. Immediately on taking over charge, he stated that revival of BSNL and MTNL is his priority. He criticized the earlier government for not attending to the requirement of these two PSUs.

In these circumstances, the Forum in its meeting on 22-05-2014 took the decision to submit a Memorandum to the Communications Minister.

The Memorandum dated 26-05-2014 with the following demands was submitted to the Communications Minister .

  1. Honouring of Assurances given to BSNL at the time of Corporatisation
  2. Providing Financial Assistance to BSNL
  3. Refund of Spectrum charges paid by BSNL to government
  4. Formation of new / subsidiary companies disintegrating BSNL to be stopped.
  5. Filling up of directors of BSNL Board
  6. Pension Contribution on the basis of actual pay instead of the maximum of the payscale.
  7. BSNL/MTNL Services to be made mandatory for Central/State/PSU establishments
  8. Absorption of ITS officers
  9. 78.2% IDA Merger for BSNL Pensioners

The Memorandum was signed by Comrades V.A.N.Namboodiri, Convener, Forum, Suresh Kumar (BSNLMS), Islam Ahamed(NFTE), Prahlad Rai(AIBSNLEA), R.P.Sharma(BSNLOA), Sunil Gautam(SNATTA), R.K.Ram(BTU), Gajendra Kumar(BTEU), R.K.Kohli (NFTBE), P.Abhimanyu(BSNLEU) Jayaprakash (FNTO) and K.Sebastin (SNEA(I).

Passive Infrastructure Agreement between BSNL and Reliance

When it came to the notice of the Forum that an agreement has been made between BSNL and Reliance for passive infrastructure of the BSNL towers, it held a meeting immediately on 18-07-2014 and discussed the issue. The Forum decided to demand the management to immediately provide it with all details of the agreement, after which the Forum will discuss again.

M/s Deloitte Committee Recommendations opposed

In the meanwhile  M/s Deloittee Consultants, which was engaged by the BSNL Management gave its recommendations with regard to the financial viability and revival of BSNL. There was no discussion or consultation with the unions/associations. The recommendations including VRS, combing SSAs, reducing the sanction of staff etc. were completely against the interest of BSNL as well as its workers. The meeting of the Forum held on 04-08-2014 strongly opposed the recommendations and decided to organize agitational programmes for rejecting the same.

  1. Protest demonstrations on 12th August 2014 at Corporate office/Circle/SSAs.
  2. A Press statement to be issued against the retrograde recommendations of Deloitte Consultants
  3. Meet the Communications Minister on this issue.

The demonstrations in Delhi was held on 21st August  2014 so as to adjust with the meeting of the Heads of BSNL Circles at that day at Corporate Office. All the programmes were successfully organized. But however, no meeting with the minister could be arranged. (To be continued)

Struggles by Workers to Defend and Save BSNL : 2004 – 2015 – ( 10 )

14 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by in BSNL - Better Service to the Nation, General

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Negotiation fails

The meeting of the union leaders with BSNL Management and the Secretary DOT could not result in any fruitful decision. The Minister, Shri A.Raja, held meetings 9th and 10th July 2007 with representatives of the Joint Forum. The Secretary DOT and BSNL Management were present in the meeting on 10th July. The Minister gave certain assurances, and it was assured that it will be conveyed to the Convener, JF. But the letter given to the Joint Forum was very vague as can be seen below:

Govt. of India, Ministry of Communications & IT, Department of Telecommunications 20, Ashoka Road, Sanchar Bhawan New Delhi dated 10th July 2007.

To Shri V.A.N.Namboodiri, Convener of joint Forum of BSNL Unions & Associations of Non-Executives & Executives and General Secretary BSNL Employees Union, New Delhi.

Sub: Notice for dharna on 9th and 10th July 2007 before offices/exchangesat all levels and one day strike on 11th July 2007

  1. This has reference to the meeting taken by Hon’ble MOC&IT on 10th July 2007 with representatives of joint Forum of BSNL on the above mentioned subject.
  2. During the meeting, various concerns of BSNL employees were deliberated in detail. After the discussions, the following decisions emerged:
  • BSNL will give its response to all the queries raised within a week’s time(This has already been communicated to you vide BSNL Letter No. BSNL/39/7/SR/2007 dated 10th July 2007).
  • MOC&IT expressed his concern about BSNL and assured that while taking a decision on response of BSNL, interest of BSNL will be protected.
  • During the intervening period till receipt of supplies under the tender, appropriate steps will be taken to ensure that BSNL does not suffer due to lack of net work capacity.
  • Serious efforts will be made so that BSNL remains in full readiness to utilize the benefits of technological evolution in 2G/3G/Wi-Max etc.
  • In view of the above, you are requested to withdraw the strike notice and proposed strike on 11th July 2007.

(Sd) D.S.Mathur, Secretary, DOT

The Forum was not satisfied with the letter, since no concrete decision was given to purchase the equipment on the basis of the tender and conveyed the same to the Minister.

The Minister had another meeting with the Joint Forum in the night of 10th July 2007 only hours before the proposed strike in an effort to resolve the issue. While the Minister stood by what was stated in the earlier meeting, he was not prepared to put it in writing.

Joint Forum meets and decides for strike.

The Joint Forum met immediately in the late night and discussed the developments in detail. The Joint Forum decided to go ahead with the strike decision, since the demands have not been accepted. A number of circulars and press releases were issued by the JF, which gave wide publicity to the strike.

The Historic Strike of 11th July 2007.

As per the call of the Joint Forum, the strike started at 00.00 hours on 11th July 2007. The strike scored an unprecedented success with close to 100 % success participation by workers and officers. The entire work force rose as one man to ensure that BSNL survives. It was a wakeup call to the BSNL Management and government. The 11th July Strike by nearly 3,40,000 executives and non-executive employees of BSNL was virtually total, with most of the telephone exchanges and offices remaining closed with  employees on strike. It was for the first time since the formation of BSNL in October 2000 that such a total strike has taken place. It was also a complete strike in the Corporate Office in Delhi, which was housed in the Statesman Building at that time.  It was also the first time that all the executives, except the Group A / ITS officers ( most of whom continued as Govt. officers on deputation to BSNL) plunged in to direct action. The fact that the strike was called at short notice did not have any adverse impact on the strike. It was as if the workers were mentally prepared for a serious action on the issue, which is widely perceived as a life and death question for the existence of BSNL and its workers.

The Joint Forum met on the evening of July 11th 2007 and decided to defer the strike for 15 days and watch the developments and implementation of the assurances already given. In case of non-settlement, the unions decided to meet again and decide the future course of action.

After the  Strike

All the news papers and TV channels prominently focused the BSNL strike. The cancellation of the 4.5 million mobile lines tender was criticized severely. The government was in the dock. News of the strike was published prominently in Political & Business Daily, Hindu, National Herald, Indian Express, Times of India, Business Line, Economic Times and many other papers. The Economic Times wrote an editorial supporting the cause. The Times of India in its report dated 18-07-2007 appreciated the BSNL Unions for their constructive activism as follows:

“BSNL Unions, working to pull BSNL out of the grip of political pressures are attracting growing respect for their constructive activism”.

A letter from Shri S.Rajagopalan, former CMD MTNL published in the Business Line dated 12-07-2007 stated: “ Heartening is the principled stand taken by the BSNL Employees Union which has realized the danger to the future if the tender gets delayed”.

The strike had its own impact. Matters moved fast. While it was to take much time to furnish the report to the Communications Minister and decision by him, the entire process was done within one week and the Advance Purchase Order (APO) issued. However, the APO was only for 22.75 million (50% of the tender) and the higher technology 3G portion not included. The Joint Forum protested strongly.

The Communications Minister, Shri A.Raja, once again met the Joint Forum and assured that action will be taken immediately to purchase GSM lines as also additional orders will be issued as soon as spectrum policy is announced and bandwidth allotted to BSNL.

Struggle to continue

The strike was not only for getting more GSM lines and higher technology. It was a fight for the survival of BSNL as a PSU. There are vested interests and MNCs who want BSNL to be made a loss making concern and then disinvest/privatise it. Not only the government has gone back on the assurances given to BSNL like payment of ADC, reimbursement of licence fee, liberal grant of funds from USOF etc. , it was supporting the private sector against the interest of BSNL. Navaratna status was not given despite full justification.  The new liberalization policy wants the much profitable telecom sector to be handed over to the private for which the telecom PSU, BSNL, is a hindrance. They want BSNL to be finished. It is against this anti-PSU, anti-BSNL policy that the workers fought. (To be continued)

Struggles by Workers to Defend and Save BSNL : 2004 – 2015 – ( 8 )

11 Thursday Jun 2015

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Meeting with CMD BSNL on 22nd July 2006

In the backdrop of the notice given by the Joint Forum for agitational programme, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of Shri A.K.Sinha, CMD BSNL on 22-07-2006. The gist of the official minutes released is given below:

No Disinvestment of BSNL/MTNL: The JF strongly opposed to the proposal of IPO worth 10% of paid up capital over and above the existing shares, which is only leading to privatization. CMD stated that there is no requirement of funds at present and that there is no substance in the apprehension.

No Unbundling of local loop: Though a committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary DOT has been formed, no decision has been taken. The committee will look in to all options. Minister’s assurance also is there.

No sharing of infrastructure: The Unions strongly opposed the move to share infrastructure of the BSNL with private companies.

No Increase in FDI:  Unions strongly opposed any increase in FDI. The CMD stated that the issue is dealt with at the highest level.

No reduction in revenue sharing, immediate grant of Navaratna Status to BSNL, Grant of Autonomy to BSNL, Expansion of mobile and broadband services and amicable settlement of ITS absorption issues were also discussed.

Demonstrations on 27-07-2006

The Demonstrations on 27th July 2006 was successfully organized and telegrams sent to the Prime Minister as decided.

Historic Parliament March on 3rd August 2006.

The March to Parliament on 3rd August 2006 was participated by more than twelve thousand workers of BSNL and MTNL.  The mobilization was mainly from MTNL Delhi and BSNL from nearby circles. The workers led by the JF leaders started from the CTO (Eastern Court) premises and marched via Jantar Mantar . The march was stopped by the police at the Parliament Street, where a massive rally was held. Coms. Sitaram Yechuri, M.P., Basudev Acharya, M.P., Tapan Sen, M.P. and Roop Chand Pal, M.P. addressed the rally and gave all support to the demands raised by the Joint Forum. Com.V.A.N.Namboodiri, GS BSNLEU & Convener JF and General Secretaries of the unions/associations addressed the March.

This was the biggest participation of the telecom workers opposing the neo-labour policies of the government after the formation of BSNL and MTNL.

Pension issue – Meeting with Secretary DOT on 06-09-2006

The leaders of the Joint Forum of BSNL/MTNL Associations met Shri D.S.Mathur, Secretary, DOT and chairman, Telecom Commission, on 6th September 2006 and discussed following:

1.Pension issue: The unions brought to the notice of the Secretary, DOT about the latest orders of DOT directing BSNL to pay the pension of BSNL employees , if it exceeds more than 60% of the payments by the BSNL & MTNL to DOT including dividend, licence fee, corporate tax etc. which is in utter violation of Rule 37-A and earlier orders of DOT that the pension will be paid by the Government. Secretary DOT assured that the matter will be re-examined.

  1. CGEGIS Refund: Secretary DOT assured that the files are already with the Finance Ministry and he will speak to Secretary Finance for speeding up the payment.
  2. DOT Secretary also assured that the meeting of the BSNL and DOT officers will be held shortly to discuss about the issues referred by BSNL to DOT which were raised by the unions in their meeting with DOT on 7th August 2006.

The Joint Forum met the CMD BSNL Shri A.K.Sinha on 06-09-2006 and strongly opposed the proposal for sharing of BSNL infrastructure with private operators.