As many as 228 employees of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, attached to 30 telephone exchanges in Tirupur division, went on an en masse casual leave on Friday to protest against the proposed move to implement Sam Pitroda panel's report favouring 30 percent disinvestment, among other suggestions.
Dharna
The agitating employees, including executive and non-executive cadre officials, also staged a dharna on the BSNL office premises in the city.
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Disinvestment
The various BSNL employees' unions came together to state that the disinvestment of 30 percent stake of the government in the BSNL would be detrimental to both the organisation as well as the employees.
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Similarly, Pitroda panel's suggestion for downsizing the workforce by forcing one lakh employees to go on voluntary retirement was termed by the employees' unions as “anti-employee” and “anti-BSNL” moves.
“There is no need of asking the people to opt for voluntary retirement since 10,000 employees are retiring every year and no fresh recruitment taking place to fill the gaps arisen,” the staff pointed out.
Another proposal of Mr. Pitroda that came under severe criticism of the employees was the move to divide BSNL into four business units in the pretext of restructuring the organisation.
According to Pitroda panel, separate business units should be created for fixed access, mobility, enterprise and new businesses.