BSNL unions defer indefinite strike by one week to 10 December; to meet telecom minister

New Delhi: All employee unions of BSNL on Sunday decided to defer their indefinite strike by a week to 10 December as they are scheduled to meet Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha. The nationwide BSNL strike was earlier proposed to start from Monday. The employee unions met Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan on Sunday and observed improvement in some of the issues that they have been raising, such as allotment of 4G spectrum, pension revision and payment of pension contribution by BSNL as per the government rules. [caption id=“attachment_349639” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  BSNL and MTNL. Pic courtesy: CNN IBN[/caption] All Unions and Associations of BSNL (AUAB), however, said in a statement that they were not convinced with the reply of the secretary in respect to their demand on third pay revision. “Under these circumstances, with the view to ensure an opportunity for having a discussion with the Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications, the AUAB has decided to defer the indefinite strike for one week,” the statement said. BSNL unions have been demanding allocation of 4G spectrum to the public sector firm, so that it is able to compete in the market and keep up the market share. The employees are also demanding wage revision as per recommendations of 2nd and 3rd Pay Revision Committees. “In case a fruitful settlement does not arise in the meeting with the Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications, the indefinite strike will start from 00:00 hours on 10-12-2018,” AUAB said.