Telecom giant to fire 30% contract employees, to give compulsory VRS to 80,000 people!

The contract workers of BSNL in Kerala are protesting demanding pending salary for around seven months. The telecom giant issued a circular to reduce contract labour by 30% in the first phase.

Salaries for regular employees have been delayed for the second month consecutively. The decision was taken based on the audit committee meeting which happened on August 20, reports The Hindu.

“As part of the BSNL revival package, a voluntary retirement scheme is expected to be offered. With the current situation of delayed wages, quite a few might think of taking up the offer. Once the number of regular staff reduces, and with the new norms on engaging contract staff, some major work will probably be outsourced to major companies,” said BSNL Casual Contract Labour Union (CCLU) working president K. Mohanan.

Many of the contract staff have worked for over 20 to 30 years. In the past few months, around 2000 employees were asked to leave stating retirement age.

*Picture used for representational purpose only. Source: Internet.