OVERCOMING all odds, BSNL Employees Union has once again won the elections, held for granting recognition. This is BSNLEU’s seventh victory in a row. Polling for this eighth membership verification was held on September 16, 2019. Counting of votes was done on September 18, 2019 and the results were declared the next day.

Out of the total 1,10,782 employees, 1,02,968 employees cast their votes. 1,527 votes were invalid. BSNLEU secured 48,127 votes, which comes to 43.44 per cent. Once again, BSNLEU has retained its position as the Main Recognised Representative Union.  BSNL was formed in the year 2000 and the first membership verification was held in the year 2002. Barring this, BSNLEU has won all the membership verifications, including the latest one.

The victory of BSNLEU in this election assumes much significance. Due to the pro-Reliance Jio and anti-BSNL policies being pursued by the Modi government, crisis has deepened in the BSNL. The third wage revision, which has become due from January 1, 2017, has been denied to the employees, under the pretext that BSNL is running in loss. Employees are not getting their monthly salary on time. Other allowances, like reimbursement of medical expenditures, etc have also been stopped.

Repeated announcements are being made by the telecom minister that BSNL would be allotted 4G spectrum. However, BSNL has not been allotted the same, till today. Further, news has come that the finance ministry has rejected the allotment of 4G spectrum to BSNL. Due to the non-rolling out of its 4G service, day by day BSNL is losing its potential to compete with Reliance Jio. Thus, its revenue is also getting dipped drastically.

Further, the BSNL management and the department of telecommunications are taking serious steps to retrench 40,000 employees through VRS. Steps are also being taken to roll back the retirement age of the employees from 60 to 58. It is needless to state that the BSNL employees are a frustrated lot, in view of the above mentioned onslaughts. They are not sure whether BSNL will survive or not. They have also become despondent about their future. It is in this backdrop, that the eighth membership verification has taken place in BSNL.

During their one and half month long election campaign, leaders of BSNLEU toured the length and breadth of the country. In their campaign, the leaders thoroughly exposed the anti-BSNL and anti-PSU policies of the Modi government and instilled confidence among the employees for joining in the future struggles, to protect BSNL from the onslaughts of the government.

An anti-BSNLEU tirade was unleashed by other unions, holding BSNLEU responsible for all problems being faced by the company and the employees. However, the employees have once again bestowed their faith in BSNLEU and have elected it as the number one union.