As has already been informed, the Central Executive Committee meeting of BSNLEU will be held at Mysuru tomorrow the 25-08-2022. The CEC meeting will be followed by the two day Extended CEC meeting, which will be held on 26-08-2022 and 27-08-2022. The following is the venue of both these meetings:-

Zonal Training Centre

 (Old RTTC ), Thonchikoppal, 

Near Kamakshi Hospital,

Kuvempunagar, Mysuru.

The All India BSNL & DOT Pensioners Association (AIBDPA) has given call for a March to Sanchar Bhawan today, demanding Pension Revision and settlement of other burning problems of the pensioners. Hundreds of comrades have come from the nooks and corners of the country, to participate in this rally. The programme started with a massive inaugural meeting at the Eastern Court.  

Com.V.A.N. Namboodiri, Advisor, presided over the meeting. Com.A.R. Sindhu, Secretary, CITU, delivered the inaugural speech. Com.P.Abhimanyu, GS, BSNLEU addressed the meeting. In his speech, the General Secretary greeted all the AIBDPA comrades, who had earlier worked in BSNLEU. He congratulated everyone for being in active trade union life and fighting for the cause of the pensioners, serving employees and also for the revival of the BSNL. As regards the pension revision w.e.f. 01.01.2017, the General Secretary firmly told that, no one can stop it for ever. On the recent Revival Package for BSNL, the General Secretary exposed it with facts and figures. Further, he solicited the support of the pensioners in all the struggles to be organised against the nefarious game plans of the Government, to weaken BSNL and to hand it over to the private. Others who addressed the meeting included Com.K.K.N.Kutty, SG, NCCPA, Com.R.N.Parashar, SG, Confederation, Com.K.Ragavendiran, GS, Postal Pensioners Association and others. The March to Sanchar Bhawan programme was cancelled in the last minute, since the police was determined not to allow it, due to the promulgation of section 144. BSNLEU heartily congratulates the AIBDPA for organising a highly successful programme at New Delhi.

BSNLEU has already written to the CMD BSNL, yesterday, demanding that, the premium amount for the Group Health Insurance Policy of the employees should be paid by the Company. Com.P.Abhimanyu, GS, discussed this issue with Shri Arvind Vadnerkar, Director (HR) today. The General Secretary, pointed out that, more 10,000 employees have joined the Group Health Insurance Scheme, as a result of which the medical expenditure of the Company had come down. The GS, BSNLEU, demanded that this benefit should be passed on to the employees. He demanded that, on behalf of the employees, the Company should pay the premium amount of the Health Insurance Policy. The Director (HR) assured that, the demand of BSNLEU would be looked into.

This Parliament question and answer contains various details about the public sector units. In the reply given by the Hon’ble Finance Minister, the disinvestment plans of the Government are clearly spelt out.

BSNL continues to lose it’s customers massively, due to it’s inability to launch it’s 4G service. According to the TRAI report, in June, 2022, BSNL has lost 13 lakh customers. The Company had already lost 5.3 lakh customers in May, 2022. At a time when the private companies are preparing to launch their 5G service, BSNL has to compete with 2G and 3G technologies. This has put BSNL in a disadvantageous position and the Company is continuously losing it’s customers. In the same June,2022, Jio has gained 42 lakh new customers and Airtel has gained 7 lakh new customers. The TCS, which has been identified to supply 4G equipments to BSNL, has not even completed the testing of it’s technology. Neither the Government nor the Management is able to say, when TCS can supply 4G equipments to BSNL.

All of us know that, the 9^th Membership Verification for the Non-Executives will be held in October, 2022. Today, the Corporate Office has issued letter, stating that the polling for the 9^th Membership Verification would be held on 12.10.2022. The time schedule given in this letter is as follows:-

1. Last date of withdrawal from the verification process by a Union – 22.08.2022.
2. Date of polling – 12.10.2022.
3. Date of counting of votes – 14.10.2022.
4. Declaration of result by CRO – 14.10.2022.

BSNLEU organised a country wide successful Black Badge Wearing programme and Lunch Hour demonstrations against VRS, increasing working hours up to 12 hours and threatenings to dismiss employees under FR 56(J). Some leaders have become nervous after BSNLEU gave the call for agitation. They say that, the Management is not having any proposal to implement VRS and that, BSNLEU is unnecessarily creating fear among the employees. Through this website updating, BSNLEU throws an open challenge. Recently, Management uploaded a document on it’s official Intranet. On the first page of this document, it is mentioned as Presentation for the Heads of Circles conference to be held on 04^th & 05^th August, 2022. In this document, proposal is given in page no.32 for retrenching 35,000 employees (employees who are 45 years and above). It is also mentioned that 40,000 employees are sufficient to run BSNL. This is not BSNLEU’s imagination, but written in black and white, in the official document of BSNL, which was uploaded on the official Intranet of BSNL. In the conciliation meeting held by the Dy.CLC on 17.08.2022, the PGM(SR) stated that, this was an old document and it was uploaded on the Intranet by mistake. We would like to ask one question. Are the dates 04^th & 05^th August, 2022 old? In the said document, it is mentioned as “Presentation to be made in the Heads of Circles Conference to be held on 04^th & 05^th August, 2022.” We ask the Management, how this can be an old document? Due to some reason, only known to the Management, this document has been removed from the Intranet. But, it does not mean that the Management did not have proposal for retrenching 35,000 employees. They cannot escape by saying that the document is removed from the Intranet. In yesterday’s Dy.CLC conciliation, the PGM(SR) said that, there is no proposal for VRS at present. The employees should remember that, the Government retrenched 80,000 employees under VRS in 2020. But, before implementing that VRS, both the Management and the Government had been saying that, there was no proposal for VRS. It is unfortunate now, that some union leaders have also joined the chorus with the Management and are saying, there is no proposal for VRS. We enclose herewith, the BSNL Management’s document uploaded on the official Intranet. We request everyone to read page no.32. We challenge ! Let anyone prove that this is not BSNL's official document !!

In a swift move, BSNLEU organised day long black badge wearing and lunch hour demonstrations throughout the country today. This agitation is against the steps being taken by the Government and the Management to retrench 35,000 employees through VRS, increasing the working hours up to 12 hrs. per day and against the threatenings to dismiss employees under Rule FR 56(J). Even though, the call was given at a very short notice, there is excellent response for the call in all the circles. BSNLEU has told the Government and the Management that they cannot take the employees for a ride. The CHQ heartily congratulates all the circle and district unions, which sprang into action at a very short notice.