BSNL Employees Union has once again won the first position in the Membership Verification conducted by the BSNL Management for electing the recognised union of non-executive workers. This is the fifth consecutive election, in all of which BSNLEU has won with flying colours. The verification through secret ballot was conducted on 16th April and the result was announced on 18th April 2013.
The membership verification is conducted in a systematic way on the line of the Parliament/ Assembly elections. This time there were 2230 polling booths with 204468 voters spread over 35 telecom circles. More than 10,000 officials including Presiding Officers, Polling Officers and Polling Agents were employed. Hundreds of Labour Officers supervised. The ballot boxes as also guidance in conducting the election was received from the Election Commission/Chief Labour Commissioner. The voting was held in one single day, 16th April 2013 all over the country, from J&K to Kerala and Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh and A&N Islands.
18 unions contested in the election. But the main contenders were only three viz. BSNL Employees Union, NFTE and FNTO. In the membership verifications held so far, except the first, which went to NFTE, in all the other consecutive four verifications, BSNLEU had won with 50% or above of the total polled votes. Since as per Code of Discipline, the guideline adopted by all Central trade unions decades back, only the majority union was recognised and BSNLEU continued as the sole recognised union for the last 8 years. However, BSNLEU felt that it will not be conducive to the growth of the company as well as for the democratic process, if a good section, though minority, is kept away from the right of representation. Accordingly, it took up the matter with the Chief Labour Commissioner as also the management for a change in the recognition rules. After discussion with all the unions, the management notified the New Recognition Rules for BSNL non-executive employees’ unions. As per this rules, any union which gets 50% or more of total votes (not polled) will be recognised as the sole recognised union. If no union gets more than 50%, then the two unions which get more than 15% of votes will be recognised. All the unions which get more than 7% of votes will be eligible to get seats in the negotiating councils at All India, Circle and SSA levels on the basis of proportionate representation.
After the election notification was issued by the Management in January 2013, the unions started campaign to woo the employees for support. Hectic tours were organised by all India, circle and SSA level leaders holding rallies/meetings, issuing pamphlets, notices, booklets etc. Colourful wall-posters were pasted at the office/exchange premises. The workers got a very good chance of meeting their leaders and putting their demands and suggestions directly.
While most of the unions limited their campaign on the financial demands of the workers and attacking the recognised union viz. BSNLEU, the latter mainly focussed the campaign against the anti-worker policies of the government, the need to save BSNL and strengthen it and also provide a better service to the nation. The leaders of BSNLEU explained to the workers how BSNL was being discriminated against the private companies, how it is being deprived of the necessary equipment like phone instruments, mobile lines, broad-band modems, cables etc. which is required for expansion and development of services. They also educated the workers how the company was being made financially unviable by the government by taking away all the Rs.40,000 surplus cash with BSNL in the name of spectrum charges, licence Fee etc. The government washed its hands of all the solemn assurances given by it at the time of formation of BSNL like reimbursement of Licence fee, compensation from USO Fund towards providing and maintaining loss making connections in the village, payment by ADC etc.. The neo-liberal policies being implemented by the government since 1990s have resulted in the weakening of all PSUs. Further, the top management of the company has done little to develop and expand the services, the main reason being that these top level ITS officers are mainly on deputation from government service and not absorbed employees of BSNL. The positive role of the employees in improving the services and taking care of the requirement of the customers were also emphasised.
The achievements during the last 8 years when BSNLEU was the sole recognised union were explained. The good wage revision of 2007, the New Promotion Policy, Group Insurance and many other such settlements have given good benefit to the workers. BSNLEU also took initiative in uniting all the executive and non-executive unions to fight together for saving and improving BSNL.
The voting was over on 16th April peacefully. Out of 2,04,468 employees, 1,93,121 participated in the election ( 94.45%). The result was announced in the evening of 18thApril after compiling and finalising the results received from all the 35 circles more than 400 SSAs.
As expected, BSNLEU won the election with 99,380 votes (48.6% of total votes and 51.45% of polled votes). NFTE came second with 61,915 votes (30.28% of total and 32.06 of polled votes). FNTO could only muster 14,088 votes (6.89% total and 7.21% of polled votes). As per the New Recognition Rules, both BSNLEU and NFTE will be recognised as the Main Recognised Representative Union and Second Recognised Representative Union respectively. BSNLEU is eligible to get 9 seats in the negotiating councils at National/Circle/SSA levels and NFTE will get 5 seats on the basis of the votes polled by them. FNTO and other 16 unions will neither get recognition nor seats in the councils.
The results of the membership verification showed that more than 50% of the workers support BSNLEU and its policies. It is nothing new. In all the last 5 verifications, It has won more than 50% of the polled votes and twice more than 50% of the total votes also. It got massive majority in all except seven circles viz. Bihar, Chhathisgarh, J&K, Jharkhand, Delhi NTR, T.Nadu and Corporate Office, where also it has improved much compared to the last election. BSNLEU regained first position in another five circles viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Chennai and LTTC, where it lost last time. BSNLEU got more than 50% in A&N Islands, Assam, H.P., Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, NE-I, NE-II, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, W.Bengal, Kolkata Telephones, BRBRAIT, Telecom Factory Kolkata, Inspection Circle and Telecom Stores. In total BSNLEU has won in 28 circles out of 35. The ratio of the seats in the councils at all levels will be on the ratio at the All India level.
This is a victory for the correct policy being adopted by the BSNL Employees Union. More than the financial and other benefits the union has achieved for the workers, the latter appreciated the struggle organised at the initiative of the union to defend BSNL and its workers. The complete strike in July 2007 against cancellation of tender for 45 million mobile equipment, even participated by the executives for the first time, which compelled the management to restore at least half of the tender orders, is a shining example. The strike in April and December 2010 for ensuring Pension Revision for pre-2007 retirees is another instance. The sustained propaganda and pressure through the ‘Subscriber Delight’ programme initiated by the Joint Action Committee pioneered by BSNLEU has done a lot to restore the deteriorating services.
Against the disinvestment/privatisation policy of the government, continued agitations and strikes were organised by BSNLEU which compelled the government to postpone the disinvestment programmes. The same is with the proposal of retrenching 1,00,000 lakh workers through VRS. Due to the strong resistance of the workers, the management could not implement the VRS scheme so far. What happened to the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) and its workers after take over by Tata is well known to the workers and they do not want the same to be repeated in BSNL.
BSNLEU has given assurance to the workers that it stands to strengthen the PSU and provide a better service to the people. It will fight neo-liberal policies which are against the interests of the large majority of the people. The participation of BSNLEU in all the strikes and agitations called for by the Central Trade Unions during the last many years shows its commitment to the people. It will continue with this tested policy and agitations.
The victory of BSNLEU in the recent membership verification is a victory for the progressive section of workers. Due to its initiative, proportionate representation has now been introduced in the negotiation councils. It has shown that it stands for genuine democratic process. BSNL Employees Union expresses its thanks to the thousands of workers and well-wishers who have once again elected it with good majority.