Telephone Operators' case

2015, July, final update: The case has been successfully resolved! Please view this update to the alumni.

Summary of resolution:

After many attempts by Orange to dismiss the issue and denials of any wrongdoing, they agreed to a telephone meeting with the representatives of Citizens’ Forum. We are pleased to report that this campaign has finally resulted in very positive results. Orange has agreed to restore the wages of all telephone workers to Nov 2013 level plus 10% per annum increase to account for inflation. In addition, they have paid all the lost wages since Dec 2013.

Note:

• Our communications with the institute/alumni/contractor are being collected on the webpage:

• Communication on Telephone Operators' case

• Initial details of this case are contained in the Hamara Manch updates 2009-11-04, 2010-01-25 and 2014-02-20. The 2009 submission of the employees is available here.

• In April 2014, we decided to take up this issue with alumni and administration. The communications can be found on : Communication on Telephone Operators' case.

• You may also want to look at:

  • Copy of new telephone exchange contract (2013).

  • Copy of letters from HR (indicating pay November 2013 v/s October 2013) and letter from deputy director (2011) indicating pay.

  • Copy of payslips for telephone exchange workers (for Oct 2012 and Dec 2013/Jan 2014)

  • Copy of payslips and income tax statement (for May and June 2014)

• While a brief background can be found below, more information is available in our communications some of which also include detailed calculations.

Brief Background:

IITK, like any other large institute, runs a division to manage its telephone infrastructure. By all accounts IIT Kanpur has one of the most efficient and reliable exchanges, and the daily maintenance is completely the responsibility of these exchange workers (this includes installation and maintenance of telephone line and modems, generation of telephone bills, management of telephone directory, etc.). However, in practice, the workers have been facing serious wage related issues.

The first issues with the practice came to the fore with the previous contract:

• In 2002, IIT had contracted to give Rs 8000/- per operator which was upgraded to Rs 8800/- in 2005 and in 2008 it was again upgraded to Rs 12162/- based on ‘escalations of DA’. However, throughout this period, the actual salaries drawn by them were much lower –the lowest being Rs3771/-. This in spite of the fact that some of these operators have been working in the Institute for over two decades and are considered extremely skilled.

• The employment arrangement was also very curious as HCL had brought in a firm called Chaque Jour Outsourcing Solutions (P) Ltd as the direct employer of these operators. In all the 12 years of the contract these operators had no contact with this alleged ‘employer’. Even their contact with HCL (the on paper contractor) was minimal -- these operators in fact were consistently reporting directly to Institute officials. Such a contractual arrangement for service provision is illegal, and comes under a ‘sham and bogus’ contract wherein a superficial contract is put in place with respect to workers merely to escape the responsibilities of an employer.

In 2009 the telephone exchange workers decided to resist their patently unfair salaries and approached HM for support. After a long drawn struggle which involved the support of faculty members, staff, alumni and students, these workers were able to get their due salaries only in 2012. Their last drawn salary from HCL was Rs 13,294/-.

However, with the new contract, wage related issues have again come into play: IIT Kanpur has put in place a new telephone exchange system and has signed a contract with M/s Equant Technology Services (India) Pvt Ltd., an arm of Orange Business Services of France Telecome ‘for providing Equipment, Solutions and Services’. The contract has come into place in December 2013 and is for 10 years. The contract is for over 1.5 crores with an AMC (annual maintenance contract) for Rs 25,599/- per month. All the existing employees of the exchange have been retained for maintenance of telecommunication services, but they have been offered salaries which are merely half of what they were drawing earlier.

• The current wages being offered are less than that were part of the previous contract twelve years earlier!

• The new contractor has again brought in a third party as the direct employer (though some clauses in the contract specifically forbid such sub-contracting).

• This ‘mysterious’ employer is not even based in Kanpur – this time it is a Mumbai based company, in particular their EPF are being managed from Mumbai. Even for medical facilities (through ESI), they are expected to go to Mumbai!