The CHQ has already printed and despatched  pamphlets, for organising the strike in November. The conspiracy to kill BSNL, by way of denying 4G technology, as well as other demands, are  well explained in this pamphlet. CHQ has printed this pamphlet in English and Hindi, and they are already despatched. The circle unions of the non-Hindi speaking circles are already  directed to translate the pamphlet into regional languages and to print the same.

Circle and District secretaries are requested to kindly ensure that these pamphlets reach the hands of each and every BSNL employee. Hence, it is requested to organise a Week Long Drive for meeting each and every employee, by the office bearers, for distributing the pamphlets and for explaining the demands on which the strike is being organised. The Week Long Drive has to start immediately after the pamphlets are received / printed. All the district secretaries are requested to ensure that this Week Long Drive is effectively organised.

Com.Sunil J. Thakar, District Secretary, Kutch, Gujarat Circle, has sent Rs.2,222/-, as his personal donation to WFTU Fund. CHQ appreciates the spirit of Com.Sunil J. Thakkar and heartily thanks him for the donation.

As already informed, the WFTU had given call for donations from affiliated organisations. The All India Centre has decided to collect Rs.20/- per member as the WFTU Fund. This call of the CHQ has been excellently responded by the circle unions. Most of the circle unions have sent the donation amount, while in some circles, the donation is directly sent to the CHQ by the district unions.

Till today, the CHQ has received Rs.2,21,222/- towards the fund. Out of this, Rs.1,80,000/- is being sent to the WFTU. Some circles have not sent the donation. The remaining collection will be sent as donation to the Trade Union International (TUI), Transports and Communications. The list of donations received by the CHQ so far, is enclosed. CHQ heartily congratulates all the circle and district unions for the donations. It also requests the remaining circles to send the donation without delay.

Outage of backbone links has become a regular feature, especially on holidays. The AUAB, Assam, has taken this issue seriously. The representatives of the AUAB, met the CGM, Assam, on 19.10.2020 and discussed this issue. They demanded an early solution to the media instability and insufficient media bandwidth issues. The AUAB also demanded reopening of the Agartala International Gateway and also the leasing of 2 nos. of additional 10G links from PGCIL, to cater to the increased data demands of Assam and North East region. The CGM, Assam, assured to take up this issue with the Corporate Office. The CHQ of BSNLEU also will take up this issue with the Corporate Management.

CHQ thankfully acknowledges the receipt of donations for WFTU Fund, as per the following details.

(1)     Gujarat circle – Rs.18,000/-

(2)     Assam circle – Rs.12,000/-

(3)     Rajasthan circle – Rs.10,000/-

(4)     Uttarakhand circle – Rs.3,300/-

(5)     Jharkhand circle – Rs.2,000/-

(6)     Srinagar SSA (J&K circle) – Rs.1,500/-

(7)     Jammu SSA (J&K circle) – Rs.1,000/-

(8)     Solan SSA (Himachal Pradesh circle) - Rs.1,000/-

(9)     Udhampur SSA (J&K circle) - Rs.300/-

CHQ heartily thanks and congratulates the above circle and district unions for their donation and wonderful response. CHQ requests the remaining circle unions also to remit the WFTU Fund immediately, since we have to send the amount within two / three days.

The Modi government has become notorious for manipulating data. The government has already robbed the DA of the Central Government employees and Central Government pensioners for one and half years, starting from January, 2020. Now, the government has taken step to benefit the employers, by denying the industrial workers, of their legitimate Industrial Dearness Allowance(IDA).  To achieve this, the base year for computing the Consumer Price Index for the Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) has been changed from 2001 to 2016. All the Public Sector employees, including BSNL employees are going to face loss due to this manipulation. 

While changing the existing base year from 2001 to 2016, the Labour Bureau, functioning under the Ministry of Labour, has done many manipulations to deprive the workers, of their legitimate DA. The CITU has issued a detailed press statement, exposing these manipulations done to compute the Industrial Dearness Allowance. We have enclosed the press statement hereunder. Comrades are requested to give wide publicity for the same.

In the ongoing collection of WFTU Fund, Madhya Pradesh circle union has donated Rs.13,000/-. Similarly, Gurgaon district union of Haryana circle has donated Rs.1,020/-. CHQ heartily thanks and congratulates both Madhya Pradesh circle union and Gurgaon district union.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and his government keep on showing that, the US President, Donald Trump, is very close to them. We have seen how many times Prime Minster, Narendra Modi, hugged President, Trump, in the "Namaste Trump" rally, held at Ahmedabad, on 24^th February, 2020. The BJP government has completely changed India into a junior military partner of the United States. India has joined the QUAD (Quadrilateral Group)  military alliance against China. The other members of the Quad are the US, Australia and Japan. 

However, Donald Trump never hesitates to insult India, whenever he gets a chance. In the Presidential election campaign going on in the US, a few weeks back, Donald Trump openly told that India is hiding the number of people infected and died of Corona Virus. In yesterday’s Presidential campaign meeting, he has told that the air in India is filthy. However, do not worry. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi will continue to be loyal to President, Donald Trump.

In the name of Revival of BSNL, everything is being done by the government and the BSNL Management, to kill BSNL. 79,000 employees have been forced to go on VRS. In addition to this, the contract workers who had been carrying out crucial operations, are also retrenched. In the place, Management is blindly outsourcing the maintenance works of landlines and broadbands. 

CHQ has already received complaints, invariably from all circles that, BSNL’s landline and broadband services have gone to the dogs after outsourcing, resulting in massive disconnections. The AUAB has already taken up this issue with the BSNL Management. However, the BSNL Management is in deep sleep. As per the TRAI data, reported by the ET Telecom dated, BSNL has lost some 1.54 lakh connections in the month of July, 2020 alone. Will the BSNL Management get up from it’s deep sleep.

Recently, the Parliament has passed three Labour Codes. One Labour Code had already been passed earlier. All these four Labour Codes, passed in the Parliament by the Modi Government, are taking away the hard-won  rights of the workers, as well as trade unions. 

The CITU has published articles in English and Hindi, explaining how the Labour Codes passed in the Parliament are going to convert the workers into slaves. Both the articles, in English and Hindi are enclosed herewith. At least, leading comrades should read these articles.  

CHQ thankfully acknowledges the receipt of the following donations for WFTU Fund:-

(1)     Maharashtra circle – Rs.20,200/-

(2)     Chhattisgarh circle – Rs.2,060/-

(3)     Sonipet SSA (Haryana) – Rs.200/-

(4)     Rewari SSA (Haryana) – Rs.620/-

(5)     Rohtak SSA (Haryana) – Rs.600/-

(6)     Faridabad SSA (Haryana) – Rs.500/-

(7)     Shimla SSA (Himachal Pradesh) – Rs.1,000/-

(8)     Mandi SSA (Himachal Pradesh) – Rs.1,000/-

(9)     Ladakh SSA (Jammu & Kashmir) – Rs.700/-

(10)   Azamgarh SSA (UP East) – Rs.500/-

CHQ heartily congratulates all the above mentioned circle and district unions for their wonderful response, in sending donations to the WFTU Fund. 

Ladakh SSA in Jammu & Kashmir circle is in one of the remotest corners of the country. It is a hilly region, least developed in terms of infrastructure, communications, etc. However, BSNLEU feels proud that, it is having a developed trade union movement in the Ladakh region. 

Our Ladakh comrades always stand in the forefront in all the struggles. Similarly, in expressing working class solidarity also, our Ladakh district union remains in the forefront. Ladakh district union has promptly sent Rs.700/- as it's contribution for the WFTU Fund. CHQ heartily congratulates the Ladakh district union. 

We are informed that one more contract worker has committed suicide. Com.Ravi, who had been engaged in the GMT Office, Palakkad, Kerala, has committed suicide yesterday, due to prolonged non-payment of wages and also due to the drastic reduction in his working hour. Com.Ravi had been working in BSNL for the past 20 years. BSNLEU pays it’s homage to Com.Ravi and conveys heartfelt condolences to his family members. BSNLEU will continue to take up the issues of contract workers in a more steadfast  manner, in the days to come.

CHQ has arranged a Facebook live address by Com.Tapan Sen, General Secretary, CITU, at 6:00 pm on 28.10.2020. The purpose of organising the Facebook live address is to successfully organise the General Strike on 26.11.2020. Each Circle Secretary and Central Office bearer is requested to ensure that  maximum number of comrades, form their respective circles, are made to view this Facebook live address. The link for viewing the live address is given below.

https://www.facebook.com/bsnleuchqnewdelhi

Com.P.Abhimanyu, GS, discussed with Shri A.M. Gupta, Sr.GM(SR), today, about the deadlock that has been created in the functioning of the National Council. The General Secretary pointed out that, the double standard being adopted by the Management, regarding nomination of Staff Side members to the National Council, is the root-cause for the deadlock. He demanded that the Management should adopt a uniform criteria for nomination of Staff Side members, which alone will break the deadlock. The General Secretary also pointed out that very important problems of the employees are awaiting discussion in the National Council and demanded that the Management should take steps to conduct the National Council meeting without further delay.

CHQ has already given a call for collection of donations for WFTU Fund. The progress so far reached is very less. Only 7 circles have sent the donations for WFTU Fund so far. They are Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kolkata, Chennai Telephones, Kerala and NE-I circle. Since, BSNLEU has to hand over the WFTU Fund on 25.10.2020, the CHQ requests all the remaining circle unions also to rush their quota of donations immediately. The amount may be remitted into CHQ account with intimation to the General Secretary through WhatsApp. 

CHQ thankfully acknowledges the receipt of Rs.5,000/-, from NE-I circle, towards WFTU Fund. CHQ congratulates the NE-I circle union.

BSNL की 8 ट्रेड यूनियन्स और एसोसिएशन्स ने संयुक्त रूप से 26 नवंबर, 2020 को आम हड़ताल आयोजित करने का निर्णय लिया.

सेंट्रल ट्रेड यूनियन्स ने 26.11.2020 को आम हड़ताल करने का आव्हान किया है। समान विचारों वाली ट्रेड यूनियन्स द्वारा संयुक्त रूप से BSNL में भी आम हड़ताल आयोजित करने हेतु पहल की गई है। परिणाम स्वरूप, निम्न  ट्रेड यूनियन्स और एसोसिएशन्स में  26 नवंबर, 2020 को संयुक्त रूप से आम हड़ताल आयोजित करने हेतु सहमति बनी है : BSNLEU, NFTE BSNL, FNTO, BSNL MS, SNATTA, ATM, TEPU and BSNL OA.

आम हड़ताल के लिए कर्मचारियों के लिए संयुक्त अपील (पैम्फलेट) जारी करने और संयुक्त पोस्टर जारी करने हेतु भी सहमति बनी है। सभी सर्किल और डिस्ट्रिक्ट यूनियन्स से अनुरोध है कि इसका संज्ञान लेवें और तदनुसार कार्यवाही शुरू करें।