Chennai: Members of the All Unions and Associations of BSNL’s (AUAB) strike which was announced today has been postponed.
The strike was announced over non-issuance of the third pay revision and various other demands. The decision of the strike was taken during a meeting which was convened 14 November.
Speaking to News Today, AUAB coordinator M Kanniappan said the officials have sought time of one week to begin negotiations as Union Minister Manoj Sinha was out of station at present.
The issue began in 2017 and was taken to Manoj Sinha on 24 February 2018 who assured to resolve the issue.
“He assured us to remove us from the affordability condition which will entitle us to the wage revision. However, his promise has not been kept which has forced us to undergo the strike. The requests were rejected by Secretary, Department of Telecommunication on 6 November, he added.
He further said other important demands of the association includes the implementation of the government rule in respect of payment of pension contribution by BSNL.
‘Additionally, we have also demanded wage revision of the employees and pension revision of the retirees, from 1 January 2017. Our request for providing 4G service spectrum for BSNL has also been declined. We have been asked to pay an amount of Rs 13,000 crore but we do not have sufficient funds now,’ he said.
He alleged that allotment of 4G spectrum to BSNL is being deliberately delayed by the government to allow advantage to private telecom operators at the cost of BSNL.
He said 1.85 lakh employees including senior officials will take part in the protest. In Chennai 7,600 employees and officials will take part in the strike.
Kanniappan said so far seven meetings has been held with Directorate Of Telecom and there is no positive response.
‘Another meeting is called for tomorrow and we do not think that there will be an amicable solution arrived at during it,’ he said.
In a letter to Manoj Sinha on 28 November, the union sought a level playing field for the company in comparison to other players in the telecom sector.
‘Thousands of workers (non-executives and executives of BSNL) are retiring every month. Naturally, issues of their third pay revision are still pending despite clear commitment given to them in that regard and that has created serious resentment among them,’ it was stated in the letter.
It further said,’They are expecting at least 15 percent enhancement/fitment in pay and payment of pension contribution by BSNL and revision of pension to BSNL retirees with effect from 1 January 2017, as made available to a number of public sector employees and officers.’