BSNL (1) is to terminate its 20,000 workers who are under contract. As per the Employee Union of BSNL, the company already has over 30,000 employees to leave. It means that a total of 50,000 workers under contract have laid off by BSNL. However, there has been no official release by BSNL regarding the exact numbers of contractual workers to be terminated.
BSNL Employee Union claimed that 20,000 contract workers are asked to leave by the management as they don’t have any money for their salaries. P Abhimany, BSNL Employees Union General Secretary, has informed PTI that 30,000 workers are already removed in the previous 12-14 months, and more 20,000 will be asked to leave.
So, in total, over 50,000 contract workers of BSNL will lose their jobs. The Union has criticized BSNL for not paying past dues to the employees who chose VRS or salary to those who decided to stay. In a letter to BSNL, the Union stated that all the low contract workers are not paid since the previous 14 months. As a result, 13 contract workers have even committed suicide. The Union further asked BSNL and its management to take the responsibilities of these workers.
The Financial Situation of BSNL is Deteriorating
Though there has been no official confirmation regarding the total number of contract workers they will lay off, the management has confirmed that they will reduce their workforce even further.
On 1 September, the rule of BSNL has issued an order to the HR Dept to decrease the total number of contract workers as much as possible. The letter addressing all general managers stated that there should be a clear road map for all contractual laborers with immediate effect.
BSNL, even after 1o months of its revival package, is unable to roll out 4G as power its Employees Union. They added that due to the reduction in workforce, the quality of BSNL services has also deteriorated. Hence, the BSNL is not able to scale its revenue, added the Union.
BSNL is currently under the process of flagging a new 5G tender. Notably, earlier, a tender of 9,300 crore INR was scrapped due to a domestic telecom gear makers complaint.
