Issue of settlement of Wage Revision to BSNL employees – Request to reconsider in light of PM’s statement by BSNL Employees Union

BSNL EMPLOYEES UNION 
Central Head Quarters

BSNLEU/422 (WAGE)

09.02.2024

To

Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw ji,
Hon’ble Minister for Communications,
Sanchar Bhawan,
20, Ashoka Road,
New Delhi – 110 001.

Respected sir,

Sub: Requesting to revisit the issue of settlement of Wage Revision to BSNL employees in the backdrop of the statement made by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on the floor of the Parliament — reg.

Most respectfully we wish to bring the following to your kind notice for favour of your kind consideration.

It is being widely accepted that, BSNL has become a loss making entity, only because of the anti-BSNL policies implemented by the erstwhile Government. Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad ji, former Hon’ble Minister.

of Communications had stated that, BSNL which earned a net profit of Rs.10,000 crore in the year 2004, became a loss making entity thereafter, only because of the wrong policies of the Government. Recently, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw ji, Hon’ble Minister of Communications, while addressing the Central Working Committee meeting of the Sanchar Nigam Executives Association at New Delhi, had stated that the erstwhile Government had ruined BSNL. A few days back, while speaking on the floor of Parliament, Shri Narendra Modi ji, the Hon’ble Prime Minister, had emphatically stated that “the country knows who ruined BSNL and MTNL”. The inference of the statement of the Hon’ble Prime Minister is that, the erstwhile Government had ruined BSNL and MTNL.

From the above statements of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of the country, erstwhile Hon’ble Minister of Communications and also the present Hon’ble Minister of Communications, it becomes crystal clear that, BSNL has become loss making only because of the wrong policies / measures implemented by the erstwhile Government. It means that, the employees are in no way responsible for the financial crisis being faced by BSNL. When this being the fact, Wage Revision is being denied to BSNL employees on the plea that the Company has become loss making. BSNLEU, as well as the All Unions and Associations of BSNL (AUAB) and the Joint Forum have long been demanding that, BSNL should be exempted from the affordability clause of the 3″ Pay Revision Committee.

In this connection, we would like to bring to your kind notice that, there are around 30,000 Non-Executives in BSNL, out of which around 12,000 Non-Executives are suffering from the problem of Stagnation. They are not getting their annual increment due to Stagnation. This problem of stoppage of annual increment to the thousands of Non-Executives has created a great measure of frustration and demotivation among the Non-Executives.

It is also not out of context to bring to your kind notice that, the top Managers of BSNL, viz., the Chief General Managers, Principal General Managers, General Managers, etc., who are working in BSNL on deputation from the DoT, have already got their Pay Revision and are also enjoying the fruits of revision of allowances. This bizarre situation is not prevailing in another PSU, wherein the top Managers of the Company are enjoying the fruits of Pay Revision, while Wage Revision has been denied to the employees in the lower rung. This injustice needs to be undone as early as possible.

As per the instruction of the erstwhile Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications, Shri Manoj Sinha ji, the DoT, vide it’s letter no.F.62-2/2016-SU dated 27″ April, 2018, has directed the CMD BSNL to finalise a Wage settlement of the Non-Executives, by signing agreement with the Recognised trade unions. However, the Wage Revision agreement could not be signed even after 5 years, due to the unreasonable stand being taken by the BSNL Management. While, the 3 Pay Revision Committee has given reasonably long pay scales to the Executives, the BSNL Management wants to cut down the pay scales of the Non-Executives, which are already finalised in the Joint Wage Negotiating Committee, through consensus between the Management Side and the Recognised Unions.

When the 3rd Pay Revision Committee has offered reasonably long pay scales to the Executives, it is irrational on the part of the BSNL Management to offer short pay scales to the Non-Executives, on the pretext of saving expenditure on account of pension contribution. Due to this irrational stand of the BSNL Management, the Wage Revision agreement could not be signed in the Joint Wage Negotiating Committee.

Under the above mentioned circumstances, we request you to kindly intervene on this issue and to ensure that the Wage Revision of BSNL employees is settled without any further delay.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

[P. Abhimanyu]
General Secretary

Copy to: (1) Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Secretary, Telecom, DoT, Sanchar Bhawan, New Delhi – 110001
(2) Shri Ajay Kumar Sahu, Member (Services), DoT, Sanchar Bhawan, New Delhi – 110001
(3) Shri P.K. Purwar, CMD BSNL, Bharat Sanchar Bhawan, Janpath, New Delhi – 110001
(4) Dr. Kalyan Sagar Nippani, Director (HR), BSNL, Bharat Sanchar Bhawan, Janpath, New Delhi — 110 001