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EDITORIAL OF TELE PENSIONER- JANUARY-MARCH, 2018

Editorial

No permanent job means nothing but enslavement of the workers.

Whether we are going back to the period of slave- master system..? Yes, it is hard to believe; but that is the reality. The government of India notification replacing permanent job with term based employment and extending the Fixed Term Employment to all establishments is nothing short of enslaving the workers and throwing them to the mercy of employers. No discussion was held with the trade unions in the country who are the important stake holders and Parliament also was not taken into confidence before issuing the draconian notification. This unilateral and high handed action of the central government led by NarendraModi reflects its anti-worker and anti-poor stand. Of course, the government is committed to pursue the neo-liberal policies more vigorously to appease the corporates and the attack on the workers and the poor people.

The government started the attack on the workers with the amendments of labour laws taking away the hard won rights of the workers. Indian Trade Union Act, 1926, Industrial Employment Central Rules,1946, Industrial Disputes Act,1947, Factories Act, Child Labour Act etc were compelled to be enacted through so many sacrificing struggles of the working class. . Certain state governments like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were first to resort to amendments of labour laws and shamelessly the central government is following these states to deny the workers some of the important rights as also diluting their fundamental rights.

Modi government came to power by giving the people so many promises. One of the important promises made was generation of 2 crore jobs every year. But nothing worthwhile has been done in this regard. According to Labour Bureau report, 1.35 lakh jobs were created in 2015 and 4.1 lakh in 2016-17. Mass scale job losses due to the demonetization is not taken into consideration by the LabourBureau . Ever since implementation of LPG ( Liberaisation, Privatisation and Glabalisation) started in India in 1991, the number of casual and contract workers increased steadily and has , of late, out numbered the regular workers in most of the establishments. Meanwhile, the central government is not keen to fill up the vacant posts in various government departments. In a reply to a question, it was revealed in the Parliament on February, 2017 that 4,12,752 posts are lying vacant as on 31-03-2016.

It is a surprising coincidence that the attack on pension also was during the earlier BJP government. Statutory pension with defined benefit was replaced with the contributory pension during the A.B.Vajpayeeled  BJP government with effect from 01-01-2004. Later the Congress government led by Manmohan Singh got it legalized by enacting the PFRDA in the Parliament with the active support of BJP.

These onslaughts on workers and pensioners are to be fought unitedly and defeated. We have heard earlier about the “Hire and Fire” and it is now legalized by the Modi government with the notification making significant amendments to the Industrial Employees Central Rules,1946. It will definitely create a chaotic situation in the labour sector. The central trade unions have condemned it and resolved to fight against the draconian move and in Kerala, the entire trade unions barring BMS has rightly decided for a one day strike on April 2, 2018.

AIR INDIA STAFF UNIONS PROTEST PRIVATISATION.

Air India staff unions write to PM Modi; flag concerns about stake sale

MUMBAI: Eight employee unions of Air India have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising serious concerns about the disinvestment of the national carrier and have sought an alternative revival plan.

In a letter, signed by representatives of the eight unions, they have also flagged possibility of job losses in case of privatisation.

Air Corporation Employees Union, All India Service Engineers’ Association, Air India Employees Union, Aviation Industry Employee Guild, Air India Aircraft Engineers’ Association, All India Aircraft Engineers’ Association, Air India Engineers Association and United Air India Officers Association have written the letter.

Together, these unions represent more than 10,000 Air India employees.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has sought Expression of Interest (EoI) from potential bidders for a 76 per cent stake sale in loss-making Air India as well as divestment of two of the carrier’s subsidiaries.

“We strongly protest Government of India’s move to privatise or disinvest Air India/subsidiaries as it is against the interest of the country and urge the government to review its decision… and explore the possibility of an alternative to disinvestment/ privatisation,” it said.

According to the letter, a copy of which has been seen by PTI, the unions said Air India can be restored to its “pristine glory” if debt worth Rs 30,000 crore is waived off or the loan is restructured and a proper roadmap is put in place with effective management.

Referring to the previous NDA government’s decision to sell two Centaur Hotels properties in Mumbai, the letter said there have been job losses after it.

“In our view, privatisation of Air India should be completely avoided with an effective revival plan with the participation of employees. It is also urged to write off/ restructure the loan for Air India revival instead of giving benefit to any private entity,” the letter, dated April 3, said.

Among others, the unions noted that the airline has never defaulted on interest repayments.

(courtesy:The Times of India)

BSNLEU CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING CONCLUDED.

The three day Central Executive Committee Meeting of BSNL Employees Union held at Agartala from 3rd to 5th April , 2018 is concluded successfully. The open session was inaugurated on  3rd April by Com.K.Hemalatha, President, CITU with an educative speech. Coms.V.A.N.Namboodiri, founder General Secretary, P.Abhimanyu, General Secretary and Swapan Chakraborty, Deputy General Secretary addressed.

The CEC deliberated extensively on the issues being taken up by All Unions and Associations under the initiative of BSNLEU and have taken suitable decisions.

PRAKASAM DISTRICT CONFERENCE HELD ON 04-04-2018

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Ms.Chandrasena, GMTD with the office bearers after opening the new District Association office

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The  conference of AIBDPA Prakasam district iwas held on 04/04/2018  under the presidentship of Com.G.Venkateswarlu. Com. S.K.Aziz,District Secretary submitted the activities Report and Com.K.Subbaiah, Treasurer submitted the accounts.

Before starting the conference, the newly allotted accommodation for AIBDPA district
association was inaugurated by the GMTD Smt.Chandrasena and in her brief message to the
members promised all co-operation from the administration in solving the genuine grievances
of retirees and sought the co-operation of the pensioners in the possible way to achieve the
targets of BSNL and all of us should unitedly work for the growth of our BSNL.
Com.K.S.C.Bose, CS AP Circle in his elaborated address explained the position of pay revivision,
pension revision, medical allowance, the social and political situation in the country and the
need of united struggle with All Unions and Associations in BSNL and the necessity to be a part
of main stream working class movement. Com. Ramachandrudu, CS Telangana explained to the
members the struggles of unorganised sections, adivasis and the recent long march of farmers
from Nasik to Bombay and the problems of cps pensioners and the need of united struggles.
Com.M.Yacob, President AIBDPA AP Circle enlightened the members on the family pensioners
problems, and the facilities  to dependent children, widow daughters etc. and how our
association is working for the retirees.Com.B.Veera Swamy, Circle President, Telangana AIBDPA
in his brief speech and inspiring song urged the members to work for BSNL survival and
nation’s development. Com. T.Dharma Rao,COS AIBDPA AP and General Secretary BSNL CCW&L
Union, AP Circle informed the conference about the recent struggle of casual contract
workers and the necessity of united struggle of working employees, retirees and casual contract
workers for the survival and growth of BSNL
The district conference unanimously elected new office bearers with Coms. 
G.venkateswarlu, Com.Sk. Aziz and Com.N. Sastrulu as President, Secretary and
Treasurer respectively.
Com.B.Subba Rao,ACS, AIBDPA AP Circle proposed vote of thanks.

CHERUVATHUR AREA CONFERENCE HELD ON 03-04-2018

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Com. Madhavan Maniyara, President, Cheruvathur Panjayath inaugurated the biennial Area Conference of Cheruvathur under Kannur District on 03-04-2018. Coms. P.V.Unnikrishnan, Circle Patron, K.Rajan, Circle Asst Secretary, K.Kunhiraman, District Secretary etc addressed.

Coms.Dr.M.S.Nair, U.Krishnan and K.V.Balakrishnan were elected President, Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.

BALASORE DISTRICT SPECIAL GENERAL BODY MEETING HELD ON 01-04-2018.

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A well attended special general body meeting of Balasore District Branch was held at Bhadrak on 01-04-2018. Com.Gadadhar Panda, District President controlled the proceedings.Coms.A Dhupal, Circle Patron, Adwaita Prasad Mohanty, Circle President, S.R.Das, Circle Secretary, BSNLEU, P.K.Nayak, All India Asst. Treasurer and District Secretary, BSNLEU, Jaganath Mallick, Circle Organising Secretary and Sreedhar Das, Asst District Secretary addressed the meeting. The leaders explained the current developments with regard to pay revision, pension revision and the efforts being made by AIBDPA and All unions and Associations of BSNL and the ongoing struggle to achieve the demands and to protect BSNL. The meeting concluded with vote of thanks by Com. Pratap Jena, District Organising Secretary.

Protest privatisation of Air India, the Jewel of the Nation.

The decision of the central government to disinvest 76% shares of Air India, the national carrier called the Jewel of the Nation, is completely against the interest of the nation and is part of the aggressive privatisation move of the government to eliminate all PSUs to suit to the requirement of the private corporates to grab maximum profits. There is no justification for the privatisation of Air India, except that by doing so, the private carriers will get a hay day for hiking the charges and garnering huge profits at the cost of the passengers.

Air India was one of the profit making excellent PSUs till the government merged Indian Airlines with it and ordered a large number of planes paying huge amount, when that much number of planes were not at all necessary and viable.
It is reported that the bid worth for Air India is fixed at Rs. 5,000 crore. With its large number of planes, the space it has got in all the airports, the machinery, the buses and other infrastructure, Air India will be having an asset of more than Rs. 20,000 crore at the least. Of course, privatisation is a process through which the valuable PSUs are gifted to the corporates for name sake price.

Strong protest should come up against this anti-people move of the government and the privatisation should be defeated.