After the mighty and massive Sanchar Bhawan  March by the BSNL Workers and pensioners as per the call of the BSNL All Unions and Associations and also fully supported and participated by the AIBDPA (All India BSNL DOT Pensioners Association), the DOT as well as the Communications Minister have been compelled to meet the General Secretaries and discuss the issue in right earnest. It has been assured by the Minister that the issues will be taken up with the Government. So far, well  and good. The Ministry should recommend with full facts and figures furnished by the  BSNL management and Unions/Associations and recommend for wage revision as well as Pension revision. If the government does not settle the issues, further struggle will follow.

What should be the method of pension revision? Whether it should be based on the CDA scale of VII CPC or the IDA Scale of III PRC? Actually there need be no doubt about the same, but some confusion is being made by some comrades, which will complicate the whole issue and delay the pension revision. These comrades feel that since BSNL is already in loss and there will be no wage revision in future and hence no pension revision also. So their suggestion is that the demand should be pension revision on the basis of the VII CPC in the CDA scale.

Let us look in to the relevant facts:

1. Till October 2000, when BSNL was formed, all were government employees and they got Pay revision and Pension revision on the basis of the V CPC (1996).

2. BSNL employees retired from October 2000 onward got  pension in IDA scale based on the wage revision of BSNL employees in IDA scale in 2000. The DOT pensioners did not get this benefit. This was one advantage for the BSNL pensioners and their pension was fixed in the IDA scale ( and not CDA scale). This was beneficial to them..

3. DOT Pensioners got their pension revision on the basis of VI CPC in CDA scale from 01-01-2006. They got the pension revision after 6 years of the IDA pension revision which was in 2000.

4. BSNL pensioners once again got pension revision in IDA scale from 01-01-2007 on the basis of the wage revision of BSNL employees, increasing much higher than the DOT pensioners.

5. DOT Pensioners has got pension revision with effect from 2016 in CDA scale on the basis of the VII CPC

6. As per the convention and on the example of the 2000 and 2007 pension revisions, the present pension revision should be on the basis of of the III PRC on IDA scale. This is only logical and convincing. Since the government has already removed the 60:40 condition and is committed to pay the full pension, it need not wait for the wage revision of BSNL employees. It can implement 15% fitment as suggested by the III PRC, which is higher than that of VII CPC. This will benefit the BSNL pensioners.

7. The demand for pension revision of BSNL pensioners on the basis of VII CPC CDA scale, will create a lot of anomalies, will reduce the pension and also create serious dispute between those pensioners retired before 2017 and after 2017. Changing pension revision from IDA to CDA after two pension revisions made in 2000 and 2017 will have serious consequences for the pensioners.

8. The thinking that there will be no wage revision for BSNL employees now and in future is a negative thinking, which the government want to impress upon the workers. CPCs have also stated that in future, there need be no pay commission. What will be the result? The working class, whether in the government or in the PSUs will never allow such a situation. We have to be positive and not negative.

On the above and other many fully justified reasons, the best and logical demand is that the pension revision of the BSNL pensioners should be made from 01-01-2017 on 15% fitment which is recommended by the III PRC, and also with out waiting for the wage revision of employees, since the affordability clause and profit and loss conditions are not applicable to the government. We should not make any demand which will reduce the pension, make the issue complicate and bring many anomalies which will take years to settle or not settle at all. We should not divide the BSNL pensioners in to two camps, which will reduce our fighting power.

Indian Labour Conference Postponed After RSS-Affiliated BMS Threatens To Boycott Prime Minister Narendra Modi

“BMS decided to boycott ILC due to the centre’s anti-labour policies,” RSS trade union President said.

The Centre has indefinitely postponed the Indian Labour Conference to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after RSS trade union BMS threatened to boycott it over the Union budget that was “unsympathetic to labour and workers”.

At the 47th ILC scheduled to be held on February 26 and 27, trade unions and employers were to discuss key issues over employment and security of workers.

The Union Labour and Employment Ministry, the host of the conference, has not explicitly explained the reasons for calling it off. “The ILC has been postponed. Inconvenience is regretted,” the ministry sent the message to trade unions, BMS president Saji Narayanan told Outlook.

Trade unions, including the RSS-affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, had earlier threatened to boycott the event, alleging their demands were not met in the Union Budget. To avoid embarrassment perhaps, the ILC now stands cancelled.

“BMS had decided in its national executive meeting in Ambaji in Gujarat, held from February 6 to 8, to boycott ILC due to the centre’s anti-labour policies. Two words were totally missing from this year’s budget- labour and worker,” Narayanan told Outlook.

THE BMS, however, demand the ILC to be convened soon, and the government should “do their homework.”

“ILC should not be a ritualistic or ceremonious event. The government has not done sufficient homework. We demand that ILC should be convened at the earliest with sufficient home work by the government,” the RSS trade union president said.

In an exclusive article for Outlookindia, Narayanan had said the BJP government at the Centre is nothing more than UPA III.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the nucleus of Sangh Parivar cosmos, had made it evident that it is upset with the Modi government’s economic policy decisions and, like a ventriloquist, has been lashing out through its affiliates like BMS and Swadeshi Jagran Manch.

Other central trade unions invited to the Conference had other reasons to boycott it. Upset with the government’s decision to not invite Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), the second biggest central trade union in the country, as many as 10 central trade unions described the move as “discriminatory” and “undermining the spirit of tripartism.”

The unions had also expressed displeasure over not taking action on the unanimous recommendations of the 43rd, 44th and 45th ILCs especially on formulation of minimum wages, same wages and benefit for same work as regular workers for contract labour. (Courtesy: Ms Vimala Vidya)