VAN Namboodiri's Blog

A Model P and T Co-operative Society

vannamboodiri — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:23:56 +0000

I was at Pune today, 24th February, in connection with a Convention of the BSNL Employees to prepare for the 28th February strike. Before the meeting which was scheduled at 1500 hours, Comrades Nagesh Nallawade, Circle President and Purushotham Gedam, Circle Secretary took me to The Pune Posts & Telecom Co-operative Credit Society Limited, which is in Pune city itself. It is accommodated in a three storeyed plus ground-floor building newly purchased for an amount of Rs. 1.71 crore. It is a spacious building and there is a big Conference Hall, rooms for office purpose, sitting room etc. About 15 officials are employed by the society for the day-to-day work. It is kept neat and clean also. I was really impressed by the arrangement and functioning of the Society. I was told that loan to Rs. 5 lakh are given to the members. The Society has a proposal to start a Bank also. As social responsiblity, the society is giving a good number of blankets to the old people, and I saw the same there purchased for supply. I suggested certain other social responsibilities which the society can undertake. Com. Nallawade is the President of the Society. I congratulated them for making the society to the present position.

It is not an isolated case. P&T employees have such big societies in many places like Thiruvananthapuram, Hubli etc. If the societies are run in an efficient manner, the workers will get much benefit. These societies can run stores also which will be helpful to our employees.

Pune fully prepared for the 28th February Strike – Convention at Pune

vannamboodiri — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:06:08 +0000

The BSNL Unions Convention at Pune today, 24th February to propagate the message of the proposed 28th February Strike was fully participated. The big hall where the Convention was held was full with even many comrades standing outside. The meeting was presided over by Smt. Vandana Duppalliwar. Comrades Nagesh Nallawade, Circle President and Purushotham Gedam, Circle Secretary, BSNLEU welcomed the large gathering and also briefly mentioned about the need to make the strike successful. I was the first speaker. I explained the main demands of the strike, the unity of the Central Trade Unions and All India Federations in taking the decision for strike as also the unity brought in the BSNL Unions for united action. The house, with many lady comrades, heard with rapt attention. S/Shri Islam Ahamed, President, NFTE and S.N.Deshpande, leader BMS addressed. Circle Secretaries of the BSNL Unions and some District Secretaries of Maharashtra were present. The entire house sat till the meeting was over. From the attendance as well as the receptive mood of the house, it was clear that the 28th strike will be a great success in Pune.

Recruitment in Public Sector Banks – A good sign.

vannamboodiri — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:58:30 +0000

The recruitment process has started in the Public Sector Banks. 9 Public Sector Banks have called for applications. The vacancy comes to 10,255. Other PSU Banks are also expected to call for applications. The vacancies have arisen due to increase in the business, large-scale VRS earlier and very less recruitment for the last many years.

The recruitment will help the customers and also reduce the heavy overload of work on the employees. Not only in the banks, but in other Public Sector Units also the recruitment for regular employees should take place by regularising the contract workers as also bringing in fresh blood.

Birth Centenary Celebrations of Comrade P.Sundarayya

vannamboodiri — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:57:58 +0000

The Birth Centenary of Comrade P.Sundarayya, the builder of Communist Party and movement in South India and the supreme commander of the historic Telengana struggle and the beloved leader of the toiling masses will be observed from 1st May 2012 to 1st May 2013. Comrade Puchhalappalli Sundarayya was born on the 1st May 1913. His entire life was spent to serve the people. He was the first General Secretary of the CPI(M). He was a Member of Parliament. His simplicity is well-known. His Birth Centenary Celebrations will naturally focus on his service to the people of this country and to the communist movement.

Why Change of Designations for the non-executive cadres ?

vannamboodiri — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:30:59 +0000

BSNLEU demanded for change of designations of the non-executives in BSNL a few years back and after the issue was discussed in the National Council, a committee was formed with the management and union representatives. The committee could not finalise its recommendations since the management side wanted time to finalize the designations of the executives so that there will be no conflict. Now, on the demand of the staff side, a new committee has been formed and the first meeting was held today, 23rd February. The committee has, as a preliminary step, suggested certain designations for the four main streams viz. RM/Group D, Telecom Mechanic, Sr.TOA and TTA. (The details of the suggestions etc. will be put in the website of BSNLEU). This will be discussed in the next meeting.

Why we have demanded for change of designations? The present designations have not been prepared and decided in a systematic way. The Telecom was growing in a fast way and new technologies and services required officials to deal with them. So new cadres were created one after another. New names were given to these cadres. By the time BSNL was formed, there were more than 100 cadres, with different names, some of them doing similar work also. Promotions required further designations. Of course certain cadres were merged in the meanwhile, but that also did not help much. For the same cadre itself different names were used in different parts of the country. The number of cadres have become too much and many of the jobs entrusted to them have been discontinued or became redundant.

The group C and D officials were never given good designations, as the top-level officers/management wanted to show the differences between them and the lower paid officials. The times have now changed. In the private sector dealing with public, better and good sounding designations are provided, which helps in dealing with the public. In DOT/BSNL, the designations look very much old-fashioned and downgrading. In this competitive field, the change of designations is a must.

We have told the management to reduce the number of cadres and provide with good designations. It is important for motivation and self-respect to the employees as also will benefit the company. We hope that better designations will be finalised by the committee according to the aspiration of the workers.

Annual General Body Meeting of NCCPA

vannamboodiri — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:56:57 +0000

The Annual General Body Meeting of the National Co-Ordination Committee of Pensioners Association, the umbrella organisation of the Central Government Pensioners, will be held at Ratlam (M.P.) on 12-13 April 2012. Working Committee will meet on 11th April.

It is expected that important decisions to settle the issues of the Central Government Pensioners will be taken in the meeting.

Red Salute to the first Martyrs of 28th February 2012 strike !

vannamboodiri — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:49:18 +0000

In many of the well fought struggles, workers have been killed by bullets, lathis and brutal attacks. In the historic strike of the of the Central Government Employees in 1960, an employee was beaten to death by police in Indraprastha building in New Delhi. Comrade Ekambaram, a telephone operator in Palghat committed suicide unable to face the severe victimisation, termination from service. In the 1968 one day token strike Railway workers were mowed down by Railway engines at Pathankot and Bikaner for blocking the trains. This is some incidents from the past.

But the present situation is also not much differenct. Massive propaganda and programmes are being organised to ensure the success of the 28th February strike called by 11 Central Trade Unions. In addition, the Shiv Sena trade union BKSM has declared that they will also join the strike. But the Trinamool in W.Bengal can not tolerate the strike. They are preparing black legs for torpedoing the strike. Seeing the massive programmes in support of the strike, they are enraged.

Yesterday, the Trinamool goons murdered two trade union leaders belonging to the CPI(M) who were leading procession in support of the 28th February Strike. Many others were wounded in the planned attack with sharp weapons. Comrades Pradeep Ta ( a former MLA from Burdwan) and CPI(M) District leader Kamal Gayen was murdered on the spot. They have become the first martyrs of the 28 February strike.

If anybody thinks that the trade union and progressive forces can be defeated by killing its leaders, they are grossly mistaken. The trade union movement has grown facing such assaults and murders in its progressive march and will continue its march forward.

My Red Salutes to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the advancement of the working class in the struggle field !

I am reproducing the CITU press statement issued in this connection:

CITU Press Statement

CITU strongly condemns the cold blooded murder of Comrade Pradip Ta, CITU National General Council Member and a former CPI(M), MLA and Comrade Kamal Gayen, a senior leader of democratic movement when they were leading a rally in Dewandighi area in Burdwan in support of 28th February All India General Strike called by Central Trade Unions and federations. The murderous preplanned brutal attack was made by Trinamool Congress sheltered goons and criminals. Comrade Ta and Gayen were hacked to death and number of rallyists were injured. CITU deeply mourns the death of their martyred comrades and pledges itself to intensify further its fight against the “Jungle Raj” perpetrated by TMC government in West Bengal. Their martyrdom will inspire the working class movement for bigger struggle in days ahead including 28th February strike.
CITU calls upon the working class, the trade unions and other democratic minded people in the country to raise their voice of protest against such violence and terror against trade union and democratic movement

Etisalat DB closes its business in India

vannamboodiri — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:19:39 +0000

Consequent to the Supreme Court Judgement cancelling the 112 licences granted illegally in 2008, Etislat DB, whose licences have also been cancelled, has decided to close its business in India. All the 15 licences of the company were cancelled and as per the judgement, they have to cease the operations by 2nd June 2012, within 4 months of the judgement. It is reported that the company has decided to stop operations as per judgement.

Some other companies have decided to appeal against the judgement. TRAI and DOT have so far not finalised their plan of action based on the judgment so far.

Difference between DOT and Finance Ministry delay freeing of defence spectrum

vannamboodiri — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:07:23 +0000

Additional spectrum to be released by the Defence Ministry depends upon the fact that an alternate optical fibre cable is provided to them by the DOT. The government will be able to get a lot of funds by auctioning these released spectrum. In the last spectrum auction, the government has got thousands of crore of rupees. Now DOT requires funds for constructing the alternate network for defence. BSNL is entrusted with the work. As per DOT at least Rs. 6,767 crore for the year 2012-13 alone is required. Further funds also will be required. But the finance ministry is allotting very less amount for the programme. As such the DOT has told the government that it will be difficult to complete the network in time.

In fact, the finance ministry wants to put the DOT and BSNL in trouble. If the full fund is allotted, BSNL will be able to complete it in time and get benefit out of it. Lack of funds will delay the project as also release of the spectrum from Defence Ministry.

The Government should immediatley allot the required funds for the project.

CBT fails to take decision on minimum pension

vannamboodiri — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:53:19 +0000

The CBT failed to take decision on the minimum pension which the employees representatives wanted to be Rs. 1,000. The employers representatives did not agree to the proposal and hence no decision. While the full details could not be collected from the union participants, a report from Hindu is reproduced below:

Differences among representatives of employers and employees at the EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation) board meeting on Wednesday forced the retirement fund body to defer decision on fixing the minimum monthly pension of Rs.1,000 for PF subscribers. The Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision-making body of the EPFO, could not approve the proposal to benefit its 4.72 crore subscribers, as neither the employers’ representatives nor the union leaders were willing to share any extra load, sources said. “We have decided to form a committee to suggest modalities for implementing the proposal. The committee will give its report within a month,” Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, who is also Chairman of the CBT said, after the meeting. However, this committee would be an informal arrangement among the trade unionists, he said. Of the 35 lakh EPFO pensionDifferences among representatives of employers and employees at the EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation) board meeting on Wednesday forced the retirement fund body to defer decision on fixing the minimum monthly pension of Rs.1,000 for PF subscribers. The Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision-making body of the EPFO, could not approve the proposal to benefit its 4.72 crore subscribers, as neither the employers’ representatives nor the union leaders were willing to share any extra load, sources said. “We have decided to form a committee to suggest modalities for implementing the proposal. The committee will give its report within a month,” Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, who is also Chairman of the CBT said, after the meeting. However, this committee would be an informal arrangement among the trade unionists, he said. Of the 35 lakh EPFO pensioners, 14 lakh get a monthly payment of less than Rs.500. Only seven lakh of them get above Rs.1,000 or more as monthly pension and there are cases where pensioners are getting as low as Rs.12-38 a month. At present, both an employer and his employee contribute 12 per cent of the basic pay plus dearness allowance (BPDA), each towards the PF fund ers, 14 lakh get a monthly payment of less than Rs.500. Only seven lakh of them get above Rs.1,000 or more as monthly pension and there are cases where pensioners are getting as low as Rs.12-38 a month. At present, both an employer and his employee contribute 12 per cent of the basic pay plus dearness allowance (BPDA), each towards the PF fund.