The 16th All India Conference of CITU, the vanguard of the Indian working class, started this morning at Chennai. Com.K.Hemalata, President, CITU, hoisted the red flag of CITU, amidst thunderous slogans. The Inaugural Session of the Conference started immediately thereafter. Com. Tapan Sen, General Secretary, CITU and Com.A.Soundararajan, Chairman of the Reception Committee, welcomed. Com.Michael, President of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), Com.Amarjit Kaur, General Secretary of AITUC and many other leaders of the Central Trade Unions addressed the session and greeted. Com.P.Abhimanyu,GS,BSNLEU, is attending this Conference as a fraternal delegate. The Conference will come to a conclusion, with a massive rally on 27-01-2020. BSNLEU conveys it’s revolutionary greetings to this Conference of the CITU.

Private telecom companies, including Airtel and Vodafone Idea, have petitioned in the Supreme Court of India, to permit them to pay their dues of Rs. 1.47 lakh crore, in "easy instalments". These private companies have to pay this huge amount to the DoT, by way of Licence fee and spectrum charge arrears, AGR (Adjusted Gross Revenue), on account of the a judgment of the Supreme Court, making changes in the calculation of AGR. The last day for payment of this amount is 23-01-2020. The Chief Justice of India directed that their prayer would be heard by the same bench which delivered judgment on the AGR issue.

The Oxfam International has released it’s report on 20^th January, 2020, in the sideline of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos. This time the title of the report was “Time to Care”.

The report stated “Economic inequality is out of control. In 2019, the world’s billionaires, only 2,153 people, had more wealth than 4.6 billion people.”

It further mentioned that India’s richest 1% hold more than four times the wealth held by 953 million people who make up for the bottom 70% of the country’s population. Regarding India, Oxfam further said that the combined total wealth of 63 Indian billionaires i.e., Mukesh Ambani, Azim Premji, Sunil Mittal etc., is higher than the total Union Budget of India for the fiscal year 2018-19 which was at Rs.24,42,200 crore.

It has been reported that the unions and associations of Karnataka circle have submitted an agenda to the CGM, Karnataka, for discussing the manpower and network maintenance issues in the post-VRS scenario, and that the CGM, Karnataka, is unwilling to have discussion on these issues. GS, BSNLEU, has written to the CMD BSNL demanding his intervention to ensure that the CGM, Karnataka, discusses the issues with the unions and associations. GS, BSNLEU, has also requested the CMD BSNL to issue a general guideline to all the heads of the circles, to discuss the manpower management and network maintenance issues with the unions and associations, at the circle and SSA levels.

Com.P.Abhimanyu, met Shri P.K.Purwar, CMD BSNL, yesterday and discussed about the issue of retaining the head quarters of the CGM Core Network Tx-South at Chennai itself. Shri B.L.Varshney, Director (EB), was also present during this discussion. The GS, BSNLEU, delivered the letter written to the CMD BSNL on this matter and explained fully as to why the head quarters of the CGM Core Network Tx-South should be retained at Chennai itself. The CMD BSNL gave a patient hearing and assured that the demand of BSNLEU would be looked into, for needful action.

A meeting was held between BSNLEU and Shri Arvind Vadnerkar, Director (HR), to discuss the results of the JTO LICE. Shri Sourabh Tyagi, Sr.GM (Estt.), Ms. Samita Luthra, GM (Rectt.) and Shri A.K. Sinha, DGM (SR) were also present from the Management side . Com.P.Abhimanyu, GS and Com.Swapan Chakraborty, Dy.GS, represented BSNLEU. In addition to this, Com.Suresh Kumar, GS, SNATTA, Com.Vikram Kumar, District President, BSNLEU, Amirtsar and Com.Maharishi, SNATTA, Gujarat, were also present.
 
Poor results of the JTO LICE held on 26.05.2019.
The Union Side pointed out that, the results of the JTO LICE held on 26.05.2019, were extremely poor, since only 14.95% of the candidates appeared in the exam had qualified. It was pointed out to the Director (HR) that, the standard of the questions was very high. In addition to that, there were 10 questions with multiple correct answers and 22 out of syllabus questions. The Union Representatives strongly pleaded that the results should be reviewed, by granting full marks to the 10 questions with multiple correct answers or by granting grace marks. The Director (HR) fully heard the presentation of the Union Side with rapt attention and stated that the demand of the Union would be looked into sympathetically and needful decision would be taken.
 

Finding solution to the Punjab Court cases on JTO LICE.
The Union representatives pointed out that a deadlock has been created, through court cases, in the matter of JTO LICEs held in Punjab circle. Multiple court cases are going on, as a result of which the candidates qualified in the JTO LICE held in September, 2016, have not been sent for training. In addition to this, the results of the JTO LICEs held December, 2016 and in May, 2019 have not been declared so far. The Union Side pointed out that, the litigants have already assured to the Punjab Circle Administration that they are prepared to withdraw their court cases, provided results of the JTO LICE held in September, 2016, are revised, by carrying forward the unfilled vacancies of the Recruitment Year 2013-14. The Director (HR) told that various court cases are going on and assured that the Management will try to find a way out to break the deadlock in the issue, through suitable legal action. Com.Anil Kumar, (DR JE, Chandigarh), Com.Harmesh Singh, (DR JE, Patiala) and Com.Chander Shekar, (DR JE, Chandigarh) had also come over to the Corporate Office in connection with this discussion.
 

December,2019, salary to be paid on 31.01.2020.
Com.P.Abhimanyu, GS met Shri P.K.Purwar, CMD BSNL, and discussed about the payment of salary of the employees. In reply, the CMD BSNL informed that the salary for the month of December, 2019, would be paid on 31.01.2020.

The Corporate Office has issued letter for the merger of the non-territorial project and maintenance circles. Accordingly, STP and STR circles are merged and it is named as CGM Core Network Tx-South. When the well established CGM offices of both STR and STP are functioning in Chennai for many decades, surprisingly the head quarters of CGM Core Network Tx-South is shifted to Bengaluru. After merger, the head quarters of CGM Core Network Tx-East, CGM Core Network Tx-West and CGM Core Network Tx-North are retained in the existing places, viz., Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi, respectively. However, the head quarters of CGM Core Network Tx-South alone is shifted to Bengaluru. BSNLEU has strongly written to the CMD BSNL, demanding the retention of the head quarters of CGM Core Network Tx-South at Chennai itself.

As per the new guidelines issued by the Corporate Office, for the outsourcing of works, the danger of the existing contract workers being thrown out of job, is looming large. BSNLEU has written to the CMD BSNL, demanding to ensure job security, minimum wages and social securities to them.

In the Formal Meeting held by the Director (HR) with BSNLEU on 14.01.2020, it was decided to have a separate meeting, to discuss the issues connected with the JTO LICE. This decision is taken since BSNLEU wanted to discuss the issue of granting relaxation to the failed candidates of JTO LICE held on 26.05.2019 and the issue of non-declaration of results of the JTO LICEs in Punjab circle, as additional items. The Director (HR) was kind enough to grant a separate meeting to discuss these two issues. Accordingly, it is informed today that, the Director (HR) has fixed the above stated meeting at 16:00 hrs. tomorrow.