Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

BSNL employees oppose voluntary retirement scheme

TIRUCHI: The National Federation of Telecom Employees (NFTE) - Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has strongly opposed the introduction of voluntary retirement scheme in the BSNL.

The telephone-staff ratio in the BSNL has already come down to 1000:6. With the ban on recruitment, there has been a severe shortage of manpower in the organisation. The Government is now trying to oust about 20,000 group ‘C’ and group ‘D’ employees through the VRS, which would badly affect the organisation, the NFTE secretary C.K. Mathivannan said addressing a press conference here on Saturday.

Mr. Mathivanan stated that the powers granted to the Chief General Managers to make compassionate appointments have also been withdrawn. Compassionate appointments have to be cleared by the headquarters at New Delhi now. Besides, several new conditions have been laid for compassionate appointments, which effectively ensured that there were very few appointments under the category.

The NFTE demanded that the immediate commencement of wage revision talks by the BSNL management. The previous wage agreement had expired on December 31, 2006. Though nine months have passed the BSNL has not commenced the talks. An interim relief of Rs.5,000 a month should be provided to the employees until the new wage accord was implemented.

The federation also demanded that the bonus for field staff be doubled to Rs.14, 000. It condemned a reported move to fix the bonus at Rs.10, 000 for field staff. The bonus for officers has already been doubled last year, Mr.Mathivannan said and added that the NFTE would launch a struggle to press for the demands.

Mr. Mathivannan accused the Union Government of stalling the development and growth of BSNL. The tenders for the 3 G cellular equipment have not been finalised so far, severely affecting the BSNL’s attempts to increase the connections.

Out of the 80 lakh new connections provided in the country during July, the BSNL’s share was just five lakhs, he claimed.

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