FMRAI-JAN 2015 (FINAL).p65

Vol. XIV No. 5 KOLKATA
FMRAI NEWS
Rs.3
1 JANUARY 2015
Organ of Federation of Medical And Sales Representatives’ Associations of India
60-A Charu Avenue • Kolkata-700 033 • Phone : (033)24242862 • Fax : (033)24244943 • www.fmrai.org • E-mail : [email protected]
Odisha Field Workers Two Days Strike New Beginning in
In Defense of their Right to Work
A massive two days’ strike
by more than 20,000 field
workers of Odisha, completely
paralyzed all sales promotion
activities across the state on 9
and 10 December. The strike
was called in protest against the
state government’s gazette
notification
dated
18
September,
during
the
pendency of the writ petition
filed by OSRU against Odisha
government’s notification of 31
August, 2013, which arbitrarily
prohibited sales promotion
activities in all government
hospitals and medical colleges
of the state violating laws of the
land including Section 15 of the
Drugs and Magic Remedies
(Objectionable Advertisements)
Act, 1954, SPE Act etc. and
conventions.
The
state
committee of OSRU, in its
meeting held on 2 November,
called upon all field workers of
the state to participate in the
strike since the government’s
order would otherwise affect the
livelihood of thousands of sales
promotion employees of the
state. All major district towns
and cities of Odisha namely
Angul, Balasore, Berhampur,
Bhubneswar,
Bargarh,
Bhawanipatna, Bhadrak,
Baripada, Bolangir, Cuttack,
Dhenkanal, Jeypore, Jajpur,
Central rally at Bhubaneswar
Jharsuguda, Jagatsinghpur,
Kendrapara,
Keonjhar,
Kesinga, Puri, Phulbani,
Paralakhemundi, Rayagada,
Rourkela,
Sundargarh,
Sonepur, Sambalpur and
Titilagarh witnessed an
unprecedented widespread
response of the striking field
workers.
Field workers, under the
banner of OSRU, started
agitating since February, 2013
against an order (No. 05/Dev.
Dated 12 February, 2013) of the
Revenue
Divisional
Commissioners (RDC) of the
Central and Southern divisions
of Odisha which debarred their
entry into the premises of
Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar;
SCB Medical College and
Hospital, Cuttack and MKCG
Medical College and Hospital
Berhampur. The field workers
staged demonstrations and
submitted memoranda to the
respective offices of the RDC
on 15 and 17 February, 2013.
OSRU’s delegation met the
labour
commissioner,
government of Odisha on 21
February on the issue. Further,
a delegation led by CITU’s vice
president Janardan Pati,
FMRAI’s treasurer Partha
Rakshit and OSRU’s general
secretary Shubhankar Das met
the state’s health minister on 6
March when the health minister
surprisingly expressed his
ignorance about the issue.
However, the joint secretary to
the government issued a memo
on 19 March, 2013 to the
additional
secretary
to
government, Health and Family
See page-2
Elder Field Workers Strike
In pursuance of their
demands of the management for
resolving the remaining 33
transfer issues immediately
through discussion in Welfare
Committee meeting; payment of
overdue wages; reimbursement
of travel expenses and other
financial dues; and normalization
of sales promotion work, 373 field
workers
of
M/s
Elder
Pharmaceuticals
Limited
resorted to a day’s strike on 17
December. On that day, Elder
field workers along with council
subcommittee members staged
dharnas and demonstrations
before
the
company’s
establishments in Punjab and
Chandigarh; Tamil Nadu;
Maharashtra; Uttar PradeshUttarakhand; North East Region;
Gujarat; Andhra PradeshTelengana; Bihar-Jharkhand;
Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh;
Odisha; Rajasthan; Kerala and
West Bengal. Memoranda were
submitted to the company’s
management.
Following the bilateral
understanding, reached and
signed on 20 September at
Mumbai
between
the
management of Elder and
FMRAI’s Welfare Committee for
resolving 73 field workers’ mass
transfer cases; payment of due
salaries and expenses; and reopening of the web portal for
reporting, FMRAI postponed the
Elder field workers’ March to
Mumbai programme. ( see
FMRAI News, November,
2014). Further, the Welfare
Committee through its letter
dated 9 October urged upon the
management to hold emergent
meeting for resolving remaining
transfers and other pending
issues. In its reply dated 20
October, the management
declined to call such meeting and
expressed that any discussion
would defer at least for next six
months which may resume
subject to the company’s
“performance”.
FMRAI
disapproved the management’s
unilateral decision and served
notice on 28 November for
industrial action including
strike.
Moreover, management
withheld salaries for a section
of field workers since July /
August and reimbursement of
expenses since June, 2014 and
since October, 2014 for another
section. The civil suit filed
against Elder is being pursued
and the next date of hearing is
on 16 January.
Wyeth-Pfizer
Two Wage Settlements Signed
Ending five years long disputes, inside field workers’
strikes/struggles; movement of FMRAI’s united council’s
platform from outside; in between interim relief award from
tribunal and, thereafter, off and on negotiations; finally,
settlements of FMRAI’s two pending charters of demands
between Wyeth Limited and Consultative Committee of Wyeth
Field Workers were signed on 26 November, 2014 for all FMRAI
members designated as Professional Service Representatives
/ Senior Professional Service Representatives (PSRs/Sr.
PSRs). With this, around two decades’ old bilateral Industrial
relation between the Company and FMRAI, began in 1991,
got de-railed in 2009
has been put to rail
once again.
FMRAI was a
recognized union in
Wyeth, signed six
successive service
settlements for the
field workers, last
being on 29 July,
2007. On expiry of the
last
settlement,
FMRAI submitted
charter of demands to
Wyeth on 26 April, 2010 which, after failure in conciliation, was
referred by Maharashtra government to industrial tribunal (IT No.
2 of 2012) for adjudication. On 23 August, 2013, the industrial
tribunal directed the Company to grant ad-hoc increase of Rs.
4000 per month to the fieldworkers as interim relief with effect
from 1 October, 2013 till final disposal of the reference. On the
notional expiry of the charter of demands of 26 April, 2010, FMRAI
submitted another charter of demands which is also pending in
the industrial tribunal. In the meantime, Pfizer acquired Wyeth
internationally in 2009 whereas their legal mergers are yet to take
place in India. The simultaneous bilateral discussion between
management and FMRAI’s committee which were taking place
resulted in the present settlements.
However, FMRAI’s charter of demands for the field workers
of Pfizer component which was sent by Maharashtra government
to industrial tribunal for adjudication remains pending.
Settlements
Both the settlements were signed under the provisions of
Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.The first settlement was for three
years, from 1 January, 2010 to 31 December, 2012 which would
derive an average benefit of Rs. 5000 per field worker per month
whereas the second settlement was from 1 January, 2013 to 31
December, 2015 which would derive an average benefit of Rs.
5500 per field worker per month.
See page-3
New Year Greetings
On the occasion of New Year 2015, FMRAI
greets all the members of its units, leaders
and members of fraternal organizations,
medical practitioners, pharma traders, well
wishers and readers of FMRAI News and
wishes a successful year ahead in all
spheres of their respective activities.
FMRAI NEWS
JANUARY 2015
STATE NEWS
FMRAI NEWS
l JANUARY 2015 l
Resist Multinational
Aggression
FMRAI’s national working committee meeting held at Bhopal in
November, 2014 decided massive mobilization of field workers before
US FDA (Food & Drug Administration) office at New Delhi in March,
2015 against growing attack by the multinational drug companies
particularly on the Indian drug companies on their export of
medicines, on the Indian Patents law and on the Indian drug pricing
regulatory authorities. FMRAI’s general council meeting (GCM)
scheduled to be held in February at Jalgaon will concretize the
details. Prior to this, as a part of mobilization and public campaign,
field workers will observe Protest Day on 19 January all over the
country. Against increasing market monopolization by the
multinational drug cartel to impose patent regime through back
door; against Central government’s appeasement policy towards
these MNCs; and against high rise of medicine prices, massive
mobilization of medical and sales representatives is planned before
USFDA office at Delhi in defence of country’s sovereignty, selfreliance in pharma sector and people of the country.
MNCs are desperate for their survival. They have lost substantial
market in Europe, USA and in other industrially developed countries
due to global economic meltdown and austerity measures by
respective governments particularly in healthcare sector. They have
further became restive as an estimated $230-billion patented drugs
(which they call ‘brands’) going out of patents in US by 2015 which
prompted them in search of newer markets and are, therefore, eyeing
the Indian pharma market to sell their off patented drugs (which
they call ‘generics’). But the MNCs are finding it difficult due to the
presence of Indian laws, Indian regulatory system and strong Indian
companies who export around 40% medicines to West.
The multinational aggressiveness is evident from series of
developments in recent past. The powerful US drug lobby set up
FDA offices in Delhi, Mumbai and in some other states and wants to
apply US law in India. Using the FDA, MNCs are putting trade barriers
for Indian companies to export cheaper medicines manufactured in
India on the plea that Indian medicines are ‘sub-standard’ and
issued notices to major Indian drug exporters. Why US law will
apply in India? The existing Indian law, DCGI, state drug control
authorities are sufficient to penalize the producers of substandard
drugs. If there is weakness in the law, Indian Parliament should
correct it. This is posing threat to country’s sovereignty.
Further, despite Indian Patents law was amended in 2005 to
make it TRIPS compliant, yet, under pressure from Obama
administration, following Narendra Modi’s US trip, constituted a
think tank on 24 October to draft the “National Intellectual Property
Rights Policy” replacing the three-member group of renowned
academics constituted in July and their draft national IPR policy!
The constituents of the think tank, experts say, not only lack
requisite expertise, they have corporate allegiance and represent
corporate law firms. One of the think tank members, Pratibha M.
Singh, who represented Swedish company Ericsson in its patent
infringement case against Micromax; took brief for pharma major
Gilead on Hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi, in Patent Controller’s Office in
Delhi! Multinational drug cartels are exerting pressure on Indian
government to amend Patent law through backdoor ignoring Indian
Parliament, endangering country’s sovereignty and self-reliance.
On the drug pricing area, the mounted pressure of multinational
drug lobby on the Indian government is clearly visible. Editorial of
November, 2014 issue of FMRAI News noted, “despite the high price
of medicines, Central government in phases diluted the price control
mechanism, the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) under pressure
from drug lobby. Through DPCO, 2013, the Central government left
the price determination to the market.” Just before Modi left for his
US trip, Central government on 22 September withdrew its 10 July
order of NPPA which brought 108 formulations under price caps.
Now, with slashing down of health budget by around 20%, hitherto
which was paltry 1% of GDP compared to 8.3% of USA or 3% of
China, again under the influence of multinationals, the common
people will suffer the most.
Medical and sales representatives of the country under the
banner of FMRAI will continue to raise their voice to defeat the
onslaughts of the multinationals together with other democratic
and patriotic sections of the society.
2
Condolence
Comrade Abhijit Kar
Comrade Abhijit
Kar, 40, a field
worker working in
Svizera Healthcare
and a member of
Berhampur unit of OSRU died
in a tragic road accident on 25
December, 2014 while returning
from Phulbani. He left behind
his old parents, wife and a
minor daughter studying in
standard V.
FMRAI
mourns
the
untimely death of Comrade
Abhijit Kar and sends heartfelt
condolence to the bereaved
family.
Convention on Drug Issues at Erode
More than 200 participants
including the members of
TNMSRA’s Erode unit and
people of the place in general
attended a convention on
medicine related issues on 22
November. CITU’s district vice
president
P
Marimuthu
welcomed the par ticipants.
FMRAI’s
president
R
Viswanathan spoke on “the
drug policies: good for the
corporate, bad for people”.
Madhukkur Ramalingam, vice
president,
Tamilnadu
progressive writers’ association
also addressed. TNMSRA’s
Erode unit secretar y V
Narayanasamy extended the
Strike in Odisha
Welfare Department “to look
into the matter”.
After patient waiting for four
months, OSRU filed a writ
petition in the High Court at
Cuttack on 23 July, 2013
against the state of Odisha,
represented through the Chief
Secretary,
Odisha;
the
Secretary, Department of
Health and Family Welfare,
Odisha; the Revenue Divisional
Commissioner,
Southern
Division, Berhampur; and the
Superintendent, MKCG Medical
College
and
Hospital,
Berhampur, Odisha against the
said “order”. During the
pendency of the case in the
High Court, the Health
Secretary, Government of
Odisha issued notification on 31
August, 2013 promulgating
complete ban on the entry of the
sales promotion employees in
all government hospitals and
medical colleges. A state level
convention on “Right to Work”
was organized by OSRU on 28
December,
2013
at
Bhubaneswar and a resolution
was adopted deciding a day’s
strike on 15 January, 2014.
Accordingly, the field workers
went on strike opposing the
state government’s prohibitory
order on their rightful work;
against the attack on profession
and identity of the sales
promotion employees; and
ignoring
the
labour
commissioner’s unlawful and
audaciously issued notice
against strike.
Under
the
above
background,
the
state
Trade Union Class
at Surat
AGB meeting of Orai unit of
UPMSRA was held on 29
December, attended by 65
members. UPMSRA’s joint
secretar y
Pratap Yadav
addresed. The meeting elected
incoming committee.
40 GSMRA activists from its
Surat unit including its
leadership attended a trade
union class at Vanita Vishram
School on 13 November. The
subjects dealt in the class
include the history and
background of FMRAI since its
inception;
its
council
movement; the demands related
to 8 hours work, minimum
wages, implementation of SPE
Act and its violation by different
employers; present tactics on
movement in the era of neoliberal policies etc. MSMRA’s
secretary Mukund Ranade
addressed the participants.
government’s
gazette
notification dated 18 September
demanded all round protest and
the field workers under the
banner of OSRU responded
befittingly. Field workers, all
over the country, extended their
building of the state, the State
Secretariat. CITU’s
vice
president
Janardan
Pati
addressed the gathering. A
delegation of OSRU met the
additional secretary to the Chief
Minister
and
submitted
AGB meeting of Orai
from page-1
vote of thanks. TNMSRA’s vice
president D Ravi presided.
Earlier, the members of
TNMSRA’s
Erode
unit
conducted 3 days’ public
awareness campaign against
the anti-people drug policies of
the central government.
Rally at Bargarh
solidarity to the striking field
workers of Odisha.
On 9 December, field workers
in all districts except Cuttack and
Bhubaneswar staged massive
peaceful dharnas in front of the
government
hospitals,
organized huge rallies and
submitted memoranda to the
Chief
Minister
through
respective
district
administrations. On the day,
more than 300 members of
Cuttack and Bhubaneswar
staged dharna in front of the
State Legislative Assembly at
Bhubaneswar. On 10 December,
more than 700 members from
different districts participated in
a colourful procession in the
state capital Bhubaneswar
covering the main thoroughfare
which drew attention of the
common people. The rally was
culminated in a mass meeting
in front of the main administrative
memorandum who assured to
forward the same to the health
secretary. It was also assured
that a joint meeting between the
health and secretary the
leadership of OSRU would be
organized to resolve the issue
amicably.
Earlier, demand day was
observed on 18 November
throughout the state by way of
organizing rallies, street corner
meetings and submitting
memoranda to the state’s
health minister through district
administrations. Month long
campaign was conducted
across
the
state
with
pamphlets printed in English
and Odia. Special general body
meetings were held for the
preparation of successful
strike. Press statements were
issued prior to the strike which
attracted wide coverage both
in print and electronic media.
FMRAI NEWS
COUNCIL NEWS
STATE NEWS
from page-1
Wyeth-Pfizer Settlements
In the first settlement, the existing two grades were upwardly
revised by adding Rs.300 and Rs. 760 which were further revised
in the second settlement by adding another Rs. 300 and Rs. 600 at
the entry points of two grades respectively. Annual rate of increment
were also increased ranging from Rs. 30 to Rs. 40 in the first
settlement and again by Rs. 30 to Rs. 40 in the second settlement
in all steps. Further, in the first settlement, Rs. 967 was added in
all six slabs of additional fixed dearness allowance (AFDA) and in
the second settlement, all other salary components like Additional
Salary, New FDA, AFDA, New Fixed Special Allowance were
merged into a single component as Supplementary Salary.
All the six slabs of house rent allowance, in the first settlement,
were increased minimum by Rs. 757 and Rs. 1319 being the maximum,
based on service seniority. In the second settlement, the three
allowance components namely house rent, Kit and education were
merged as house rent allowance with upward improvement in all six
service slabs. All the six slabs of LTA and medical were improved
upwardly minimum by Rs.5040 and Rs.6048 and by Rs.8796 and
Rs.10548 as maximum respectively per annum in the first settlement.
While both these components remained unchanged in the second
settlement, medical allowance would be paid on monthly basis in
place of existing annual payment. In case of daily allowances, in the
first settlement, headquarter allowance was increased to Rs. 184, exheadquarter to 200 and out station to Rs.209 which were further
increased to Rs. 225, Rs. 270 and Rs.285 respectively in the second
settlement. Field workers working in metro cities would get additionally
Rs 10 in headquarter working as metro city allowance in the first
settlement which was increased to Rs.30 in the second settlement.
Group medical hospitalization; Group personal accident insurance and
Group life insurance were substantially improved upwardly.
With the settlements of charter of demands, it was mutually
agreed that the disputes relating to the charters of demands cease
to exist and FMRAI would approach the concerned Tribunals for
appropriate action.
Arrears arising out of the settlements shall be paid within sixty
days after adjustment of Rs. 4000 paid as interim relief per month.
On behalf of Wyeth Limited, Partha Ghosh, Sr. director-trade
core & WHC; Lakshmi Nandkarni, Sr. director-HR; Anup Godbole,
business lead-WHC; Arun Narang, sales head-WHC; A. Kotwal,
Sr. manager-HR; S.C.Thevar, RSM; S.Gaikwad, manager-HR; and
Anil D’Souza, independent consultant and on behalf of Consultative
Committee, Aniruddha Choudhury, Sudip Roy, Devasish Roy, R
K Nyati, K M Surendran and A S Gulagi signed the settlements.
Ongoing Wage Negotiations
AstraZeneca
Negotiation on FMRAI’s char ter of demands dated 14
December, 2012 for the Professional Sales Representatives of
AstraZeneca was concluded and a memorandum of understanding
on wage settlement was signed between FMRAI’s negotiating
committee and the management on 14 December, 2013. The
settlement would be signed on 22 January.
Lupin
Negotiation on FMRAI’s charter of demands began between
the committee and the management during 7-8 October, 2013.
Second round of discussion was held on 19 December which is
still in preliminary stage. On conclusion, this will be the eighth
successive wage settlement in Lupin.
Show Cause Notice against USV
“Why prosecution should not be taken against you for noncompliance of the provisions of the Act (read SPE Act) and
Rules”, stated the assistant commissioner of labour, circle II,
Visakhapatnam while issuing a show cause notice on 29
September to the management of Mumbai based
pharmaceutical company M/s USV Limited. The management
was asked to show cause since they failed to issue appointment
letters in Form – A under the provisions of the Sales Promotion
Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976 to the company’s
seven sales promotion employees based at Visakhapatnam.
The notice also pointed out that “certain provisions of the Act
and Rules were not carried out” by the management.
Following a representation made by the Visakhapatnam unit
of APMSRU on 11 August, the joint commissioner of labour called
joint meetings in his office. The management did not attend the
said meeting despite receipt of the notice. The joint commissioner
heard the issue and show caused the management.
JANUARY 2015
from page-4
OTPI Convention
December and adopted a
resolution which was submitted
to the labour ministr y,
Government of West Bengal on
16 December. 16 participants
discussed on the resolution
placed by WBMSRU vice
president Gautam Sengupta.
The resolution contained the
issues and raised specific
demands
concerning
recruitment of sales promotion
employees through contractors
in violation of Contract Labour
(Abolition & Regulation) Act by
the multinational FMCG
companies,
statutory
appointment letters, leave
facilities as per SPE Act;
bonus, PF, ESI, maternity
leave etc. The resolution further
mentioned the victimizations of
leading functionaries by the
managements of
Ricoh,
Godrej etc. and adverse impact
on the security of jobs of sales
promotion employees in the
wake of online marketing.
Earlier, district level special
campaign programme with
leaflets and posters at market
places followed by convention
of
OTPI
fieldworkers
irrespective
of
their
membership were held during
first week of December across
the state.
CITU’s West Bengal state
secretary
Debanjan
Chakraborty while inaugurating
the convention mentioned that
due to Central government’s
policy direction in this era of
globalization, employers are
recruiting through indirect
agencies,
resor ting
to
curtailment of wage, bringing
attacks on the rights and legal
benefits and called upon the
field workers to get organized
under the banner of WBMSRU
and strengthen the movement
for their just demands.
WBMSRU general secretary
Sumahan Chakraborty, FMRAI
secretary Sanjay Chatterjee
among others who spoke on
this occasion.
The
convention
was
conducted by a presidium
consisting of WBMSRU vice
president Sumit Roy and
Subrata Banerjee.
Women Convention
67 women field workers of WBMSRU from
Darjeeling, Nadia, North 24 Parganas, Howrah,
Hoogly, South 24 Parganas and Kolkata attended
their 3rd state convention at Entally Academy,
Kolkata on 23 November. AIDWA’s state
secretary Minati Ghosh inaugurated. She
narrated in details how the corporatemultinationals, being emboldened by the policy
trajectories of the successive governments at
the centre, are flouting of labour laws. She
expressed her concern over increasing drug
prices and the sufferings of common people of
the country. She also mentioned that, in West
Bengal, there is no security for women under
the present Trinamool-led state government.
WBMSRU’s vice president and women subcommittee convener Arpita Mitra Roy placed a
note which was discussed by 10 participants.
The convention discussed on FMRAI’s 12-point
demands for women field workers including six
months maternity leave; equal pay for equal work;
right to 8 hours work; stop harassment of women
field workers; stop corporate corruption; reduce
drug prices etc. WBMSRU’s president Rabin Deb,
while greeting the participants, expressed his
satisfaction over spontaneous and enthusiastic
participation of women field workers in different
organizational programmes and day to day
activities. Others who greeted include CITU’s
state secretary Ratna Dutta and WBMSRU’s
secretary Arnab Nag.
A presidium consisting of Sharmistha Saha,
Tandrima Nandy and Sharmistha Mukherjee
conducted the proceedings.
OSRU
District Conferences
Sambalpur
134 delegates of OSRU’s Sambalpur district
attended their 13th conference, held at Nari Seva
Sadan on 9 November. District president Amiya
Panda hoisted the flag. CITU’s district secretary
Sushanta Pattanayak inaugurated the
conference.
Reports placed by Sanjay Kumar Panda,
secretary and Partha Sarathi Sahu, treasurer
were unanimously adopted following discussion
by 13 participants. Satyabrata Mohapatra,
secretary, OSRU addressed the participants.
Others who addressed include OSRU’s vice
president Sanjay Kumar and its state committee
member Manoj Panda. A resolution in support
of state-wide field workers’ strike during 9-10
December against the ban on work in medical
colleges and hospitals, called by OSRU, was
unanimously adopted.
A 15 member district committee was elected
with Sanjay Panda as president, Subir
Chakraborty as secretary and Partha Sarathi
Sahoo as treasurer.
Balasore
92 OSRU members of its Balasore unit
attended their 13 th district conference on 30
November which was inaugurated by CITU’s
state vice president Janardan Pati. OSRU’s
general secretary Subhankar Das addressed.
Pradipta Kumar Panda, former MLA of the
state; Nikunja Basantaray, CITU leader and
others greeted the participants. A 15 member
district committee was unanimously elected
with Rashmi Ranjan Das as president,
Sangram Keshari Mallick as secretary and
Sitaram Nayak as treasurer. A presidium
consisting of Bijay Krushna Das, Amar Kumar
Acharya and Rashmi Ranjan Das conducted
the proceedings.
3
JANUARY 2015
Registration No. WBENG/2001/6430
FMRAI NEWS
COUNCIL NEWS
Franco Indian All India
Council Conference
342 delegates, including two women, from
three divisions of Franco Indian namely FIP,
Diabetix and Zinda attended their 2nd all India
council conference held at Comrade Bankim
Sinha and Comrade S K Sinha Manch in Comrade
R Umanath Nagar, Kozhikode, during 14-15
December. The conference exhibited all round
unity amongst the field workers all over the country
and gave clarion call for organizational and bilateral
level expansion of Zinda division field workers.
The conference was inaugurated by CITU’s
FMRAI’s general secretary Aloke Kumar Banerjee
summed up the conference explaining the tasks
before Franco Indian field workers in advancing
FMRAI’s council and its related movement across
the country.
A presidium consisting of V V Raja, R
Muralidharan and T P Nikhil conducted the
proceedings.
Prior to the conference, Franco Indian all India
council meeting was held which elected K B
Kadam and Shiv Awasthi as all India and joint all
Postal Registration No. KOL RMS/106/2013-2015
STATE NEWS
CRU
Unit AGB Meetings
Silchar
90 members of CRU’s Silchar unit attended their annual
general body meeting held at Madhya Sahar Sansktriti Samiti
Hall on 7 December. CRU’s state executive committee member
Subrata Roy inaugurated. Reports placed by district secretary
Utpal Paul and treasurer Ashok Bhowal were discussed by the
participants and were adopted. CITU’s district vice president
Manabendra Paithya; its treasurer Rajat Purkayastha and
EWTCC’s district secretary Bidyut Deb greeted the participants.
CRU’s vice president Supriya Bhattacharjee concluded the
meeting. The meeting was presided by CRU’s district president
Tridip Paul.
Agartala
Elamaram Kareem inaugurating the conference
Kerala state general secretary and former
India conveners; Debajyoti Roy, Seshnath B
commerce minister of the state’s LDF government
Tiwari, Srihari Gore and A. Jayaganesh as zonal
conveners of east, north, south and west; and
Elamaram Kareem. He briefed about the present
Shashi Prakash, U D Upadhaya, Pinaki
onslaughts on the working class following the neoliberal policy trajectories of the central
Chakravarty and Kiran Kumar Chaudhury as
government which are now being pursued more
respective joint zonal conveners.
vigorously by the Narendra Modi government. He
The meeting also constituted Consultative and
urged upon the participants to carry forward the
Negotiating committees for both FIP and Diabetix
tasks of the united working class movement
divisions. All India and joint all India conveners
beside their own organizational programmes.
are common constituents for the committees in
both the divisions. Besides them, four zonal
FMRAI’s president R Viswanathan spoke on the
importance of council movement and the future
conveners will represent committees for FIP
tasks before the members in the background of
whereas four joint zonal conveners namely Abhra
Chakraborty, Vikas Mishra, T. P. Nikhil and Raj
the present scenario.
Kumar Sharma will represent in the Diabetix
Report placed by all India convener Dipak
Bhattacharjee was unanimously adopted after
committees. FMRAI’s joint general secretary
Dipak Bhattacharjee will represent all the
discussion by 26 participants. Audited accounts
report and credential report were also adopted.
committees for both the divisions.
United Protest Action
on 5 December
As decided by
the joint platform
of all central
trade unions and
national
federations/
organizations
including
FMRAI,
thousands of
field workers
across the
country joined
the other trade
unions on the
national protest
day on 5
December.
81 members of CRU’s Agartala district attended their annual
general body meeting held at Sakhicharan Vidhyaniketan on 14
December. Following discussion by 15 participants, the work report
placed by the district secretary was adopted. CRU’s president P
K Roy addressed the meeting. CRU’s former president A K Roy
also greeted. The meeting was presided by district president
Chandan Bhowmik.
Blood Donation Camp at Tezpur
On 2 December, CRU’s Tezpur unit organized the blood
donation camp for 8th successive years. District blood bank incharge Dr. T B Chetry inaugurated in presence of Dr. Juri
Bhattacharjee, superintended of Kanaklata civil hospital and the
members of Tezpur unit. Those who donated blood include Ruben
Chatterjee, a woman field worker and Rubee Santra, wife of one
of the members. Total 31 units of blood were donated.
WBMSRU
OTPI State Convention
UPMSRA
members
in a joint
rally in
front of
state
Assembly
at
Lucknow
126 including 3 women field workers of different industries
other than pharmaceutical industry (OTPI) from 17 districts of
WBMSRU met in a state level convention at Kolkata on 14
See page-3
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EDITOR : D P DUBEY