The Dharwad Telecom District Committee of Karnataka
State BSNL Non Permanent Workers Union staged a protest here on
Wednesday seeking benefits that are due for the contract employees.
Staging
the protest in front of the office of the General Manager of Dharwad
Telecom Circle near Dr. Ambedkar Circle here, the protesters said that
they were forced to face hardships and their rightful demands were not
being considered.
The protestors included people
working on contract basis in house keeping, cable maintenance and other
sections of BSNL. They alleged that although Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Limited was their original employer, it had not seriously considered
their demands and consequently the contractors were exploiting the
workers. The protestors also condemned the reported move by the union
government to privatise BSNL and urged the Centre to make availing
services of BSNL mandatory in government and aided offices and public
sector undertakings.
They demanded a minimum pay of
Rs. 15,000, skill pay for cable maintenance workers, regularisation of
services of contract workers who had served for ten years and
reinstatement of all those contract workers whose services had been
discontinued without any valid reason.
The contract
workers also objected to deductions from their pays in the name of
service tax and sought mandatory implementation of laws relating to
Employees Provident Fund and Employees State Insurance Corporation.
Addressing
the protestors General Secretary of District Committee Mahesh Pattar,
trade union leaders Harish Doddamani and B.N. Poojari urged the BSNL
senior officials to regularly check the implementation of the labour
laws by the contract agencies.
Contract workers serving in the BSNL exchanges of Gadag, Haveri and Dharwad district participated in the agitation.
