Employee | SabrangIndia

75,000 BSNL Staff Opt For VRS, Unions Blame Management for ‘Fear Psychosis’

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 05:30:36 +0000

File Photo.

New Delhi: Within just a week after the rolling out of the scheme on November 4, as many as 70,000 employees of the state-owned telecom company, BSNL, have opted for voluntary retirement, BSNL Chairman and MD, P K Purwar, told news agency PTI. As of November 12, the number of employees opting to retire crossed the 75,000 mark, Newsclick has learnt.

Meanwhile, another BSNL contractual employee in Kerala reportedly committed suicide on Tuesday due to non-payment of salaries, taking the total number of such deaths to eight so far.

BSNL had set an internal target of 77,000 employees opting for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), which is open till December 3. As per the industry sources, the target will be achieved in the next two to three days.

Though the BSNL management is reportedly set to save crores in wage bills, the unexpected response among the executives and employees for the early retirement presents a worrisome picture of the road ahead for the corporation.

Foremost among these worries is the continuity of business as the workforce will be hit severely by the scheme. The current manpower strength of the state-owned corporation stands at nearly 1.60 lakh as of date. With almost half of them set to be relieved from duty by January next year, as per the schedule of the scheme, how the telephone exchanges to be manned and operations to be carried out remains a concern that is yet to be addressed by the government.

In a letter dated November 11 to BSNL’s Chairman and MD, Sanchar Nigam Executives Association shared similar apprehensions, urging the management to “engage the trade unions for constructive discussions and feedback, instead of VRS Mela.”

“More than 17,000 exchanges in the rural areas are loss-making and maintained by the BSNL employees. After VRS, it cannot be maintained by BSNL. It will be closed down before 31.01.2020 as we will not be able to maintain those exchanges.” the letter said.

According to the employees’ front, the scheme will also lead to increased work pressure over the remaining workforce which will have adverse effects over the telecom company’s day-to-day working.

Another equally disturbing concern is the outsourcing of jobs as a solution to addressing workforce shortage. In the wake of the apprehensions raised by the All Unions and Associations of BSNL (AUAB) to the management in a meeting held on November 7, the company is exploring the options on the table, one of which is outsourcing.

“Functions such as plant maintenance and running of rural exchanges may see some impact due to the absence of manpower after the VRS. We are taking care of this through an outsourcing model,” The Times of India quoted Purwar as saying.

However, as per the employees’ front, outsourcing of all the works may not be feasible and economical. Also, it leads to the worsening of the working environment for employees.

Abhimanyu P, General Secretary of the BSNL Employees Union has termed it a scheme to eventually “privatise” BSNL and MTNL, the state-owned sister telecom companies.

“Reducing manpower, cutting employees cost, restoring the operational profits, the objective behind all these measures is to privatise the corporation…In the name of restructuring, the resources will be sold off to the corporate patrons,” Abhimanyu told Newsclick.

With rumours such as retirement age to be changed to 58 from 60 and BSNL to shut down its operations any time soon, the management has created a “fear psychosis” among the employees which is the reason behind the unexpected response among the executives opting for an early retirement.

“The salaries of November have still not been disbursed,” he added, “and the message that it sends to the employees is that if you stay, this is how things are going to be.”

Speaking of salaries, one must not forget that over a lakh contract workers of BSNL across the country have not been paid for last 10 months. As many as eight cases have been reported where the temporary workers, owing to the non-payment of the salaries, have killed themselves. To them, the Modi government’s announced rescue package brings nothing, neither revival nor an end to their struggle.

Courtesy: NewsClick

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Whither protection? 88% Gujarat employees without job contract, 67% sans paid leave

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 06:20:30 +0000

Amidst apprehensions that the Government of India’s new labour codes, tabled in Parliament recently, are driven by the interests of the industry in order to “alter” the labour protection landscape in India “beyond repair and reclaim”, facts have come to light suggesting that “model” Gujarat has been one of the worst states in the country as far as providing any form of protection to its workers is concerned.

Published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, a recent report, “Annual Report: Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)”, has found that 87.7% of Gujarat wage or salaried employees in the non-agricultural sector work “without job contract”, which is the second highest among 21 major states, next to Karnataka (94.2%).

Based on a survey carried out across India between July 2017and June 2018, the report has also found that Gujarat’s 66.8% workers in the same category are “not eligible for paid leave”, which is again the second highest in India, next only to Rajasthan (68.4%), and the state’s 55.9% workers do not get “any social security benefit”, which is fifth worst following Andhra Pradesh (62.7%), Rajasthan (61.1%), Punjab (60.8%) and West Bengal (59.2%).

Combining all the three ingredients, the survey has further found that as for “workers not eligible for paid leave, without written job contract and without any social security benefit”, Gujarat is the fourth worst (47.3%), following Rajasthan (54.3%), Punjab (52.2%) and Andhra Pradesh (51.9%). The national average is 38%.

The inter-state comparative figures come amidst Gujarat government claims that it has been following the International Labour Organization (ILO) guidelines in order to “protect” workers from exploitation, one reason why it has refused to accept the exit policy, allowing industry to retrench workers at will, as suggested by the Government of India.

Through a labour law amendment, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only given powers to the government to prohibit strikes in public utility services – where increasing number of persons are being appointed on contract – it has scaled down the period a worker could fight a case against the industry.

Under the amended law, an industrial worker now gets only a year to make an application against his dismissal, discharge, etc., raising an “industrial dispute” to the labour court or tribunal, as against the earlier window of three years. Further, the state has allowed industrial units in special economic zones (SEZs) to lay off workers without government’s sanction, which is seen as a precursor of things to come in Gujarat.

The failure to provide workers’ protection in Gujarat, significantly, is coupled with the same Government of India report pointing out that the per month average wages or salary earnings for regular employees in Gujarat during April-June 2018 was Rs 14,528.24, which is lower than all major 21 states with the sole exception of West Bengal (Rs 11,978.99).

The all-India average for lack of protection to its workers is, no doubt, poor, but not as bad as the one finds in Gujarat. Thus, as against Gujarat’s 87.7%, the report says, in India, among regular wage/salaried employees in the non-agriculture sector, 71.1 per cent do no have a written job contract.

Further, as against Gujarat’s 66.8%, the report states, 54.2% in workers in the same category across India are found to be not eligible for paid leave. And, as against Gujarat’s 55.9%, in India, 49.6% workers are found to be not eligible for any social security benefit.

The authoritative survey, even as seeking to ascertain the duration of the written contract or agreement with the employer, including the date of termination, if any, in all Indian states, says, “However, if no written contract existed, then irrespective of the duration of employment, it was considered as no written job contract.”

For the ascertaining whether employees were eligible to get paid leave, the report takes into account paid leave “during sickness, maternity, or such leave, as an employee was eligible to take without loss of pay, as per the conditions of employment.”

And as for ascertaining whether employees are covered under any of the specified social security benefits or a combination of them arranged by the employer, the survey seeks details of whether contribution has been made by the employer towards provident fund, pension, gratuity, health care, maternity benefits.

It states, “Those who were not covered under any of the above social security schemes were considered as not eligible for any social security benefits.”

Courtesy: https://www.counterview.net

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Modi Govt Is Attempting to Sell Salem Steel Plant: Employees’ Union

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 05:51:16 +0000

The public sector undertaking Salem Steel Plant (SSP) was running successfully for decades.

The public sector undertaking Salem Steel Plant (SSP) was running successfully for decades. The high-quality stainless steel products made at the unit range from household utensils to even the parts used in the recent Chandrayaan project. But for the past few years, the unit is making losses due to the lack of support from the Modi government and their policy paralysis. “Rather than trying to make this people’s asset a successful PSU, the government is fastening the process to sell it, favoring the corporates, ” said Suresh Kumar, general secretary of Salem Steel Plant Employees’ Union, while speaking to NewsClick.

Courtesy: News Click

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