As per the decision taken earlier, hundreds of JIO workers protested on March 19 in front of the Reliance JIO Jaipur office situated at VKI Road No. 12 against the illegal retrenchment of several workers over the past one year, especially after the successful launch of Reliance JIO. The retrenched workers were joined in the protest by current workers who are also in imminent danger of retrenchment. The main demands of the workers are: reinstatement of the retrenched workers or payment according to law; overtime payment; provident fund; ending irregularities in salary payment; basic workplace facilities; and implementation of labour laws.
Under pressure from the previous day’s announcement that the protest would begin at 6 AM, the management changed the shift timings from 6-8 AM to 9 AM. In spite of this and attempts by the management to lure the workers, about 200 workers participated in the protest. After intervention by the administration a 6 member delegation comprising Rahul Choudhury, Khem Singh Shekhawat, Dushyant Khuteta, Vikram Singh, Dipendra Singh Shekhawat, and Sunil Kumar met the management for talks which lasted for 3 hours. A 13-point demand letter was then prepared for submission to the Reliance JIO management. However, Reliance JIO refused to officially accept the letter of demands saying that the workers were employed by NSB BPO Solutions Pvt Ltd. This came as a shock to the workers because they had all worked for 12-14 hours per day for over one year in order to launch Reliance JIO. When the management remained adamant, the workers said that even if the work was contractual, Reliance JIO, as the principal employer, was accountable and should show their registration under the Contract Labour (Abolition and Regulation Act) 1970. However, neither Reliance JIO nor NSB BPO Solutions Pvt Ltd could show registration under the Contract Labour (Abolition and Regulation Act) 1970.
Sunil Kumar said that when it became clear that the entire system is being run illegally which is why the management is refusing to officially accept the workers’ demand letter, the workers held a meeting and decided that merely a “Received” acknowledgement from NSB BPO Solutions Pvt Ltd in response to their demand letter was not acceptable to them. They decided that all the workers would move forward in the direction of forming a Union, after which they would take the matter to the Labour Court and make preparations for massive protests in the time to come.
The workers said that in order to achieve the launch in a record time the workers had been made to work for 12-14 hours per day without any overtime. But after the successful launch of JIO the retrenchment of workers began. Just from the Jaipur regional office more than 2500 workers have been sacked in the past one year. Even while they were working they were subjected to inhuman conditions with continuous long working hours and were chastised if they took a break. Chaudhury said that 800 workers were employed in his department out of whom more than 500 have been removed. No legal notice is given before removing a worker and hence he does not have time to find new employment. The laid off workers had been working in the regional verification centre of JIO. Most are graduates or are studying to be graduates and also have qualifications in professional computer skills, but they are suffering the trauma of unemployment due to this illegal retrenchment by Reliance JIO.
With the objective of forming a Union and strengthening the agitation, Reliance JIO workers formally constituted a 35 member Executive Committee with Rahul Choudhury as Patron, Khem Singh Shekhawat as President, Dushyant Khuteta as Vice President, Jitendra Sharma as Secretary and Sunil Kumar as Joint Secretary.
