The recent media reports on the performance of Indian economy are disturbing. The economy is not showing any sign of improvement, but is deteriorating further. India’s crude steel production has fallen by 3% in January, 2020. Automobile sales continue to decline, with Maruti Susuki sales falling by 2% in February, 2020. Suresh Pal, eminent agricultural economist and director of ICAR has told that, India’s growth in agriculture has declined from 5% to 3%. All these are happening despite Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, gifting Rs.2.15 lakh crores, as tax concessions to the big corporates.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said he believed that it was not necessary to impose hardships on government employees and armed forces by freezing Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief hike till July 2021. “I sincerely believe it is not necessary at this stage to impose hardships on government servants and also on the armed forces people,” news agency ANI quoted former PM Dr Manmohan Singh as saying on the Centre’s decision to freeze Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief hike till July 2021.

[ Courtesy : Financial Express online dt. 25-04-2020]

Com.K.G. Bose is the revolutionary leader, who changed the course of the entire Postal and Telecommunications trade union movements.  He changed the concept that, trade unions should only fight for the economic demands of the employees and should not fight against the policies of the government. Com.K.G.Bose showed the path that, if the policies of the government are against the interests of the working class, then those policies should be fought against tooth and nail and should be defeated.  Com.Moni Bose, Com.V.A.N. Namboodiri and the thousands of leaders who gave birth to BSNLEU are the comrades, greatly inspired by the revolutionary ideas of Com.K.G. Bose. BSNLEU is marching ahead in the path shown by Com.K.G.Bose and is relentlessly fighting against the  pro-corporate and anti-worker policies of the government.

Corporate Office issues letter, authrising the Chief General Managers to ensure the sanctioning of Special Casual Leave to the Central Executive Committee members of BSNLEU, for the online CEC meeting to be held on 10th & 11th September, 2020.

Kolkata is hosting the two day Annual Meeting of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and the ten Trade Union Internationals(TUIs) affiliated to the WFTU. The venue of this International Meet is Hotel "Pride Plaza". Office bearers of the WFTU, as well as that of all the ten TUIs, who have come from various parts of the world, are participating in a this session. Com.K.Hemalata, President,CITU and Member of the Presidential Council of the WFTU, welcomed all on behalf of the Reception Committee. Com.George Mavricos, General Secretary,WFTU, delivered an inspiring inaugural speech. This session will continue today and tomorrow. An open session will be held tomorrow, which will be addressed by Com.George Mavricos,GS,WFTU and Com.Tapan Sen,GS,CITU. It is a privilege for BSNLEU that, the Union is a part of the Reception Committee of this International Event. Com.P.Abhimanyu,GS and com.Animesh Mitra, vice-president (CHQ) are attending this session as observers.

Com. P. Abhimanyu, GS and Com. Ramesh Chand, Org. Secretary (CHQ), had meeting with Shri Anupam Shrivastava, CMD BSNL, yesterday and discussed the following issues:-

1. On damaging of BSNL’s cables.

The Union representatives urged upon the CMD BSNL to take necessary steps to stop the extensive damages being caused to BSNL’s optic fibre cables, as well as copper cables. They pointed out that the cables of private operators are not being damaged the way in which BSNL’s cables are being damaged. It was also pointed out that the authorities at the circle and district levels should take sufficient precautionary steps, to stop our cables being damaged, and also immediate criminal proceedings should be initiated whenever our cables are damaged. The CMD BSNL assured that needful action would be taken.  

2. Short supply in FTTH equipments / materials.

The Union representatives pointed out that there is very good demand for BSNL’s FTTH connections from the public, whereas BSNL is not able to provide the connections on time, due to acute short supply of equipments, such as 12 volt battery, UPS, Splitters (1×2) and (1×4), etc. The CMD BSNL assured that needful action would be taken to overcome the short supply.

3.  Representation for BSNLEU in Pension and Gratuity Fund Trusts.

The Union representatives regretfully pointed out that BSNLEU, which is the largest trade union organisation of the employees in BSNL, has not been provided with representation in the Pension and Gratuity Fund Trusts. They also told that no action has been taken, even after the attention of the Management has already been drawn in this regard, many months ago. The CMD BSNL assured to look into this and to take necessary steps.

BSNLEU observed the 8^th death anniversary of our beloved leader, Com. Moni Bose today, by organising a memorable educative programme at New Delhi. In the programme, organised in K.G.Bose Bhawan, two intellectuals, viz., Dr. Prabhir Purkayasta of Delhi Science Forum and Dr.Satyaki Roy of Institute of Studies for Industrial Development, delivered lectures on Neo-liberal Policies and Communal Harmony. Com.Sushmita, daughter of Com.Moni Bose, greeted the function and briefly shared her memories about Com.Moni Bose. 65 selected leaders and comrades from the Northern circles, took part in this educative programme. Com. R.K.Mishra, CS, UP(East) and Com.Ashok Pareek,CS, Rajasthan, presided over the morning and afternoon sessions, respectively. Com.Swapan Chakraborty, Dy.GS, welcomed everyone and Com.P.Abhimanyu, GS, delivered the introductory speech. All the participants expressed their appreciation to the CHQ, for organising such a memorable programme.

The AUAB has already complained about the lavish expenditures being incurred by the top officers of the Company. A copy of this complaint has been sent to the Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary in the PMO and to the Secretary, DoT. The AUAB has strongly demanded the CMD BSNL to implement ‘Austerity Measures’ in respect of the top officers of the Company. The AUAB will continue to fight on this issue, to protect the interests of BSNL.

The Mysuru All India Conference has taken a historic decision to strengthen working class unity. This is the time when greater unity has to be built to settle the wage revision, pension revision and to safeguard BSNL from the attacks of the government. Revival of BSNL is our historic task. Without unity, we cannot achieve all these. This is not the time to quarrel among us on petty issues. This is not the time to test who is bigger and who is smaller. Particularly, the unity of the two recognised unions- BSNLEU and NFTE- is the need of the hour. The Mysuru All India Conference deeply deliberated this. Finally, the Conference decided to get the Recognition Rule modified, to strengthen unity. As per the Non- Executives’ Recognition Rules, if the first union gets 50% votes or more, than the second union will not get recognition. The Mysuru All India Conference has unanimously passed a resolution, demanding that this clause should be removed. We are hopeful that this will pave the way for closer coordination and understanding between the BSNLEU and NFTE- the two major trade unions of BSNL

Leaders of the AUAB, Gulbarga, Karnataka circle met Shri Mallikarjuna Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament and have presented the memorandum. The leaders have explained the demands contained in the Memorandum to Shri Kharge. Thanks and hearty congrats to the AUAB, Gulbarga.

Ms.Sujata Ray, Director (HR), is retiring on superannuation today. She is retiring with the distinction of "the longest served Director (HR)". During her tenure, Ms.Sujata Ray has settled many outstanding HR issues, like implementation of government orders on "lesser standard of evaluation" to SC/ST employees, Compassionate Ground Appointment on priority basis, to the wards of the employees killed in accident while on duty, implementation of the mobile tariff plan to the Non-Executives with unlimited free voice calls and 1 GB data per day, etc. The Staff Side of the National Council conducted a felicitation for her in the National Council meeting held yesterday. BSNLEU wishes a very happy, peaceful and long retired life to Ms.Sujata Ray.

The next meeting of the AUAB will be held on 01^st August, 2019. This will be a crucial meeting, since it will have to take important decisions in respect of BSNL’s financial revival. The meeting will also decide about AUAB’s future course of action on important issues.

अक्टूबर और नवंबर 2019 के त्वरित वेतन भुगतान की मांग को ले कर AUAB का  04.12.2019 को भोजन अवकाश में प्रदर्शन आयोजित करने का आव्हान...
AUAB ने अक्टूबर और नवंबर 2019 के त्वरित वेतन भुगतान की मांग को ले कर, सभी एग्जीक्यूटिव्ज और नॉन एग्जीक्यूटिव्ज से 04.12.2019 को भोजन अवकाश में प्रदर्शन आयोजित करने का आव्हान किया है। इस हेतु AUAB द्वारा सेक्रेटरी,  टेलीकॉम और CMD BSNL को आज आवश्यक नोटिफिकेशन जारी कर दिया गया है। AUAB ने यह भी मांग की है कि BSNL कर्मियों और डेप्यूटेशन पर कार्यरत ITS ऑफिसर्स को वेतन वितरण में किसी प्रकार का पक्षपात नही होना चाहिए। साथ ही, AUAB ने BSNL मैनेजमेंट और DoT को चेतावनी दी है कि अक्टूबर और नवंबर 2019 के त्वरित वेतन भुगतान न होने की स्थिति में उग्र आंदोलन शुरू किया जाएगा।

The BSNL employees, pensioners and contract workers carried out a vehicle rally at Pondicherry on 28^th February, 2020. The rally was intended to impress upon the general public that BSNL is emerging as a vibrant service provider. The General Manager of BSNL, Pondicherry, flagged off the rally from the BSNL Office. The rally went through the important streets and showcased the entire range of products of BSNL, from landline, mobile, broadband and fibre-to-home high-speed internet. BSNLEU appreciates the initiative taken by the employees and Management of Pondicherry. This type of programme needs to be conducted throughout the country to strengthen BSNL.

[Source: The Hindu - Pondicherry, March 02, 2020]

1) Com. Javahar Kadam, Retd. JE, BGTD - Rs.2,000/-

2) Com. Veeranna Thakkalkar, Retd. OS, Kalburgi - Rs.1,000/-

3) Com. Md. Nasir Ahmed, Kalburgi - Rs.500/- 

4) Com. L. G. Jahgirdhar, Kalburgi - Rs.500/-

BSNLEU की केंद्रीय सचिवालय (Central Secretariat) की बैठक में यह निर्णय लिया गया है कि कॉम के. जी. बोस जिनकी जन्मशताब्दी  दिनांक 07.07.2020 को है उसे बड़ी धूमधाम से मनाया जाए ।  इस बैठक में यह भी फैसला किया गया है कि इस जन्मशताब्दी के अवसर पर पूरे वर्ष विभिन्न कार्यक्रमों का आयोजन करके समस्त श्रमिक वर्गों को शिक्षित किया जाए।  इसके लिए CHQ सभी परिमंडल और जिल्हा इकाईयों को आग्रह करता है कि वे अपने अपने जगहों पर झंडा फहराने के कार्यक्रमों का आयोजन करे। साथही सभी यूनियन कार्यलयों में कॉम के. जी. बोस इनके तसबीर पर फूलमालाएं चढ़ाया जाए।  इसलिए CHQ अपने  सभी परिमंडल और जिला यूनियनों को आवाहन करता है कि दिनांक 07.07.2020 को इन कार्यक्रमों को उत्साहपूर्वक और बड़े धूमधाम से आयोजित करे।

The Circle Executive Committee meeting of BSNLEU, West Bengal circle, was held at CTO Building, Kolkata on 05-09-2020. 37 members of the Executive Committee attended. Circle President, Com. Banani Chattopadhyay, hoisted  BSNLEU’s flag. Members paid floral tributes at the martyr’s column. Com.Animesh Mitra, Circle Secretary, welcomed everyone and presented the report. Com. Bidyut Goswami, presented the financial report. Altogether, 31 comrades participated in the deliberations. Com.Tapas Ghosh, Circle Secretary, BSNLCMU and Com. Jhumur Bandyopadhyay, Joint Convener, Working Women Coordination Committee greeted the meeting. After in depth deliberations, Com.Animesh Mitra, Circle Secretary, summed up the discussions. 

Com. P. Abhimanyu, GS and Com. Ramesh Chand, Org. Secretary (CHQ), met Shri H.C. Pant, CGM (Legal), BSNL CO, yesterday and discussed the following issues:-

1. Right of the Recognised Union to nominate members to the councils.

Even after the conclusion of the case, that had been lingering on in the Ernakulam High Court, BSNL Management is not accepting non-members being nominated by the Recognised Union, to the councils. BSNLEU has already raised this issue a number of times. However, the Management continues to deny nomination of non-members to the councils. This issue was discussed in detail with the Shri H.C. Pant, CGM (Legal) yesterday. And the end of the meeting it was decided that another round of discussion would be held shortly between BSNLEU, CGM (Legal) and the GM (SR), to find a solution to this issue.

2. Denial of representation to the Main Recognised Union in Pension and Gratuity Fund Trusts.

In addition to the discussion held with the CMD BSNL, this issue was also discussed with the CGM (Legal). BSNLEU explained in detail it’s justification for making the claim. The CGM (Legal) assured that the matter would be looked into.