BSNL Wage Revision Imp. Resolutions at CEC Bhopal-Inf by Ashok Hindochaf

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RESOLUTION ON WAGE REVISIORESOLUTION REVISION
The much awaiitted wage reviisiion ffor tthe BSNL non-executtiives has been
ffiinalliized on 15tth January’’2010 iin tthe Wage Negottiiattiion Commiittttee.. The
settttllementt iis wellll appreciiatted by tthe non-executtiives.. However,, tthe process off
ffiinalliiziing tthe wage settttllementt has been a gruelliing experiience ffor tthe BSNLEU
and tthe Uniitted Forum..
IIn tthe Centtrall Govtt.. departtmentts,, wage reviisiion ffor tthe offffiicers and tthe
emplloyees are done siimullttaneouslly,, as per tthe recommendattiions off tthe Centtrall
Pay Commiissiion.. Butt iin tthe Publliic secttor underttakiings,, tthe piictture iis ttottalllly
diifffferentt.. Here wage reviisiion ffor executtiives and non-executtiives never ttake pllace
siimullttaneouslly ffor variious reasons.. Thiis ffactt diid nott percollatte iintto tthe miinds off
tthe non-executtiives,, whiich became tthe roott cause ffor miisundersttandiing and
conffusiion..
As ffar as tthe presentt round off Wage reviisiion iis concerned,, iitt iis
iimpllementted ffor executtiives iin BSNL iin February’’2009 iittsellff.. Managementt has
nott even sttartted seriious wage negottiiattiions ffor non-executtiives att tthatt ttiime.. Thiis
creatted iirriittattiion as wellll as ffrusttrattiion among tthe non-executtiives.. Thus,, when tthe
wage negottiiattiions sttartted iin Apriill’’2009,, tthe attmosphere iin BSNL was very
hosttiille unlliike iin any otther PSU..
BSNLEU and tthe UF seriiouslly ttriied ffor an earlly negottiiatted settttllementt..
However,, tthe ttottall negattiive attttiittude off tthe Managementt creatted road-bllocks.. IItt
was adamantt iin iimposiing a tten year wage settttllementt on tthe Non-executtiives,,
whiille BSNLEU viigorouslly ttriied ffor a ffiive year settttllementt.. Haviing understtood tthatt
tthe wage settttllementt woulld be dellayed,, BSNLEU and UF raiised tthe demand ffor
iintteriim relliieff.. Nott accepttiing off tthe demand off tthe BSNLEU,, managementt iissued
uniillatterall order ffor adjjusttablle advance equiivallentt tto ffour montths basiic pay..
To break tthe sttallematte,, nottiice ffor ttwo days sttriike on 19tth & 20tth May’’2009
was iissued by BSNLEU and otther UF parttners.. IIn tthe ttallks tthatt ensued,,
managementt agreed tto iincrease tthe quanttum off tthe adjjusttablle advance tto siix
montths and allso agreed tto iimpllementt tthe new HRA rattes w..e..ff.. 27-02-2009..
Based on tthiis,, tthe sttriike was defferred..
IIn tthe ttallks tthatt conttiinued,, managementt ttook a sttrong posiittiion tthatt 30%
ffiittmentt ii..e.. att par wiitth tthe Executtiives,, woulld be giiven onlly iiff a tten year valliidiitty
periiod ffor tthe wage reviisiion was agreed tto by tthe uniion.. Our siincere effffortts tto
buiilld uniitted acttiions ffor a jjustt wage settttllementt was tturned down by NFTE and
FNTO.. IInsttead,, tthey viigorouslly campaiigned among emplloyees ffor accepttiing tthe
tterms and condiittiions,, as diicttatted by tthe managementt on wage reviisiion.. Thus tthe
so calllled BSNL Workers Alllliiance and managementt jjoiined hands and made a
viiciious campaiign amongstt emplloyees tthatt BSNLEU was iinttenttiionalllly dellayiing
tthe wage reviisiion..
The above devellopmentt fforced BSNLEU and tthe UF tto reviive tthe callll ffor
ttwo days sttriike.. The sttriike tthatt ttook pllace on 19tth and 20tth Augustt’’2009 drew
ttremendous response ffrom tthe workers iinclludiing tthose bellongiing tto NFTE and
FNTO.. There iis no doubtt tthatt tthiis sttriike iis a miillesttone iin our ttrade uniion
movementt.. However,, NFTE and FNTO iinfformed tthe managementt iin wriittiing tthatt
tthey were nott parttiiciipattiing iin tthe sttriike.. Thus tthey have creatted an iindelliiblle sttaiin
on ttheiir uniions..
Even afftter tthe sttriike,, managementt conttiinued tto drag iitts ffeett,, wiitth tthe
hope tthatt BSNLEU woulld succumb tto tthe pressure and acceptt a tten years wage
settttllementt.. However,, BSNLEU was dettermiined nott tto acceptt tthatt condiittiion..
Meanwhiille NFTE and FNTO sttartted campaiigniing among tthe workers tto ffiillll up
decllarattiion fforms accepttiing tthe tterms and condiittiions off tthe managementt on
wage reviisiion.. However,, workers gave a ffiittttiing replly by iignoriing tthem..
The dettermiinattiion off BSNLEU and Uniitted Forum,, nott tto surrender tthe
iintterestt off tthe BSNL non-executtiives ffiinalllly compelllled tthe managementt tto come
around ffor a settttllementt.. Thus,, a broad understtandiing was reached iin tthe
meettiing off tthe Wage Negottiiattiion Commiittttee,, helld on 17-11-2009.. Managementt
gave up ttheiir iinsiisttence ffor a tten years wage settttllementt.. Botth siides agreed tthatt
tthe nextt wage reviisiion off tthe non-executtiives woulld be done ttogetther wiitth tthatt off
tthe executtiives..
IItt ttook ffew more weeks ffor ffiinalliizattiion off tthe new pay scalles,, siince tthe
scalles proposed by tthe managementt diid nott conttaiin suffffiiciienttlly llong spans tto
avoiid sttagnattiion.. Because off tthe ttough bargaiiniing made by BSNLEU and tthe
UF,, settttllementt on pay scalles was reached iin tthe meettiing helld on 15-01-2010..
Agreementt on recommendattiions off tthe Wage Negottiiattiion Commiittttee was siigned
botth by tthe managementt and tthe sttaffff siide on tthatt day iittsellff..
IItt iis perttiinentt tto menttiion here tthatt wage reviisiion iis sttiillll nott settttlled iin many
majjor PSUs.. Hence,, tthiis meettiing off tthe CEC congrattullattes tthe CHQ ffor ffiinalliiziing
tthe bestt possiiblle wage reviisiion under tthe giiven ciircumsttances.. Thiis CEC allso
pllaces on record iitt’’s ffullll appreciiattiion ffor tthe Ciirclle,, diisttriictt,, branch uniions as wellll
as ffor tthe enttiire membershiip off BSNLEU,, and allso ffor allll tthe consttiittuentts off tthe
Uniitted Forum ffor besttowiing ttheiir sttead ffastt ffaiitth on tthe organiizattiion and allso ffor
successffulllly iimpllementtiing allll tthe calllls ffor acttiion ffor settttllementt off tthiis llandmark
wage reviisiion..
Proposed by ::- Com.. P.. Abhiimanyu,, Dy.. G..S.. BSNLEU
Seconded by ::- Com.. Swapan Chakrabortty,, AGS,, BSNLEU
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