BSNL workers protest over pay
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) workers' union is on strike for the past one week now, protesting against non-payment of salaries for the past four months.
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) workers' union is on strike for the past one week now, protesting against non-payment of salaries for the past four months.
Jasbir Singh, president of the union, said, "According to norms, the salary should be given before the 7th of every month, but we have been paid nothing from the past four months."
"Moreover, from April, the contractor has not given us wages according to DC rates (minimum rates of wages) and he has also not issued us EPF (Employees Provident Fund) slips," Singh added.
"Whenever we try to talk to higher officials about our pending wages, they do not reply properly and make false promises. Sometimes, they misbehave with us and contractor Roshan Lal does not bother to reply our call," the president said.
"Earlier, in the office of the Patiala deputy general manager (DGM), the representative of the contractor promised to give wages on time. At the Sirhind office, the divisional engineer telecom (DET) also promised to give us wages on time but to no avail," Singh said.
Despite several attempts, contractor Roshan Lal was unavailable for comment.The union president said if the issue was not resolved on time, it would be taken to a higher level.