rs.3 fmrai news vol. xii no. 5 kolkata 1 january...

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], [email protected]

FMRAI NEWSRs.3

Vol. XII No. 5 KOLKATA

1 JANUARY 2013

1.5 lakhs medical and salesrepresentatives resorted tocountry-wide general strike on 4December in pursuance of their18-point demands to centralgovernment, state governmentsand to the employers, bringing thenewer attacks on their identity andright to work and for reduction andcost-based price control of allmedicines on the fore. 4December strike was incontinuation of field workerscountry wide successful strike on23 August this year on these focalissues.

In the situation of ongoingworld economic crisis andausterity steps taken by Westresulted in re-entry ofmultinationals through FDI route.India being a largest recipient ofFDI in tune with Centralgovernment's neoliberal policythrust necessitated for pharmacorporates for re-structuringafresh giving rise to newerattacks on field workers' identity,as a legally recognized sectionof workers and their legal right towork.

This attack is combined with

massive misleading propagandaholding the field workersresponsible for high and spiralingprices of medicines and pharmacorporate corruption. It is a cover

up exercise of government'sadamant refusal of evenSupreme Court's direction ofcost-based price control and taxrelief of essential and other

medicines and refusal toenactment of law to punishpharma corporates for corruption.

The other demands of thestrike include legally revised

appointment letters in Form-A toall existing and new salespromotion employees, bywhatever name called andwithout any exception andsuspension of marketing till itscompliance; recognition ofFMRAI's state units' photo identitycards or each state governmentto issue such cards, afterverification of appointment lettersin Form-A; constitution ofIndustrial Standing Committee forthe Sales Promotion Employeeswith FMRAI in it; to frame statutoryworking rules in SPE Act;enforcement of 1982 amendmentof Section 2(j)ii(b) of I.D.Act;grievance committee under I.D.Act; fixation and legal notificationon 8-hours work. 4 Decemberstrike also forcefully demandedto bring back all drugs undercost-based price control; to bring348 medicines in the 'NationalList of Essential Medicines'(NLEM) in the 'List of EssentialDrugs' under DPCO with present100% mark up cap; to revert tocost-based excise duty of allmedicines; and no tax onessential drugs.

Identity as Workers Right to Work Price Control of Medicines

FIELD WORKERS' COUNTRYWIDE STRIKE

Protesting against holdingthe sales promotion employeesexclusive responsible for 'sales'in gross violation of 1982amendment of Section 2(j)ii(b)of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947and taking punitive actions onthat basis; transfer of west zoneconvener, termination ofAPMSRU convener withoutfollowing rules of natural justice,withholding of salary, expensesand denial of gainful work tosome individual field workers;around 75 % Geno fieldworkers resorted to a notified countrywide strikeon 17 December. The striking workers along withstate council sub-committees staged dharnas,submitted memoranda and hold gate meetingsin front of company's establishments at Kolkata,Patna, Cuttack, Guwahati, Bhopal, Raipur,Lucknow, Jaipur, Srinagar, Hyderabad, Kochi,Ghaziabad, Belgaun and Bombay office. FMRAI,state council sub-committee members and Genocouncil leaders addressed the gate meetings.

Fissures developed in 14 years bilateral co-operative relationship due to certain actions ofthe management which are against generalposition of FMRAI and not company-specific.The fissures developed between the companyand FMRAI on two counts - firstly, that themanagement is taking punitive actions againstfield workers for non fulfillment of monthly salestarget, holding field workers exclusiveresponsible which is in violation of 1982

Strike in Geno108 out of total

130 BSN fieldworkers resortedto a day'ssuccessful strikeon 20 Decemberd e m a n d i n gnegotiation onFMRAI's pendingcharter ofdemands, forholding grievancec o m m i t t e emeeting andprotesting against victimizations. Theystaged dharnas in front of company'sestablishments at Kolkata, Patna,Ranchi, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Jaipur,Ernakulam, Bengaluru, Chennai andHyderabad. Leaders of FMRAI, stateand BSN council addressed the gatemeetings.

Management imposed the strike onthe BSN field workers. Despite there isno connectivity between endorsementof charter of demands and acceptanceof a settlement signed under theprovisions of Industrial Disputes Act,1947; yet, management createdimpediment in charter negotiation byputting a pre-condition thatcommencement of negotiation wouldtake place on submission ofendorsement which was rightly rejectedby the Committee. The management's

Strike in BSN

logic was that the benefits of thesettlement would be extended only tothose who had submitted endorsement.

The other reasons of the strikewere for not holding grievancecommittee meeting since 2010 andillegal termination and transfer of fieldworkers.

Bilateral relationship between theCompany and FMRAI was establishedway back in 1991 through the firstsettlement with the then Beiersdorfmanagement, signed 3 moresettlements with them and 2 moresettlements with BSN - a joint ventureof Beiersdorf and Smith & Nephew.FMRAI is committed to strengthen andadvance the long standing bilateral co-operative industrial relation throughdialogue and discussion which is themainstay in this relationship.

amendment of Section 2(j)II(b) of IndustrialDisputes Act, 1947 which says 'sales promotion'as an 'industry' and cannot be the exclusiveresponsibility of sales promotion employeesalone. Therefore, any action on that basis is notacceptable to FMRAI.

Secondly, in absence of any statutoryworking rules for sales promotion employees,consultative/grievance committees sign minutes/ memorandum of understanding on day to daywork input, outside legal provisions and as apart of FMRAI's policy of extending co-operationto cer tain managements. Therefore, thememorandum of understanding between themanagement and consultative / grievancecommittees can neither form the basis of issuingshow cause / charge sheet to any salespromotion employee of the Company nor canbe treated as disciplinary matter. But

Rally at Thrissur

UPMSRA General Secretary H K Singh addressinggate meeting at Lucknow

See page-8

Dharna at Chennai

See page-6

FMRAI NEWSJANUARY 2013

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EditorialEditorialEditorialEditorialEditorial FMRAI NEWS JANUARY 2013

The neoliberal stage for the capital, the phase of economic policy beginning in1990s, has had its serious adverse impact and attacks on the working people. Takingfull advantage of the liberalized policy, the corporates went for rapid restructuringdrive for super profits. This restructuring included restructuring of sales promotion.Sales promotion restructuring also included the restructuring of industrial relationbetween the management and the field workers.

But, for the corporates, the hurdles in restructuring were legal provisions and bilateralindustrial relations, which were achieved through years of past struggles and sacrificesof the field workers under FMRAI. Therefore, led by MNCs, the corporates focusedrestructuring in ending the legal protection and unionization of the field workers.

The issues and problems of the field workers underwent substantial changes. Thecorporates have been attempting to do away with the existing settlements, agreements,conventions and legal protection. Field workers' jobs sought to be made casual; theirservice and working conditions sought to be made unilateral. Whole attack of thecorporates concentrated on council movement and, thereby, to eliminate FMRAI, initiallyfrom the companies and finally from the industries, to achieve a free field for theemployers as in I. T. sector. FMRAI concretized these industrial-relation-restructuring-related-attacks on the field workers as Three Burning Problems.

To meet the new challenges of this phase, FMRAI evolved the perspective and pathof field workers movement in its own Agenda of Action. It built up its own trade uniontactics, re-oriented its movemental and organizational paths and resorted toinnumerable strike struggles to put up resistance to restructuring. FMRAI-led resistanceremained a stumbling block in this neo-liberal restructuring process. Because of thisresistance, in this phase also, FMRAI has been expanding, consolidating and deepeningits base while for many other workers the base is contracting.

FMRAI developed its own trade union tactics and tasks as Road Maps. Throughannual review, and accordingly, the Road Maps are updated / changed. Current tradeunion tactics of FMRAI centered round the Three Movements - all inter related andinterdependent - as policy-related, council related and state-related.

The policy-related movements are centered round the demands to the union labourministry concerning service and working conditions of sales promotion employees;and to the chemical & fertilizers ministry concerning drug pricing, pharma corporatecorruption and related issues.

The council-related movements centered round OSG movement, Council Movementand Sectional Movement.

The State-Related movements centered round enforcement of the severalprovisions of labour laws including SPE Act.

World economic crisis, beginning by end of 2007, together with governments' austeritymeasures in advanced capitalist countries consequently resulted in recession and marketcontraction. The capital is in search of new hosts and MNCs for new markets.

The issues and problems of the field workers have aggravated further with thecurrent world economic crisis and vigorous policy drive by central government formassive push of economic restructuring. This restructuring-reform include liberalinfusion of FDI, in pharmaceuticals for automatic 100%, and massive re-entry of MNCs;privatization drive of financial sector including banks, insurance and pension fund;massive disinvestment of public sector units. Such a format requires aggressive drivefor cutting subsidies and curbing rights, including labour rights; also necessitatingdrive for newer market restructuring including sales promotion and industrial relationbetween the managements and field workers.

This new restructuring will have serious combined adverse impact on field workersalso. One has to wait to understand and realize the whole gamut of this newer attackwhich will be unfolded in the days to come.

The manifestations, so far, indicate that the attack on the field workers isconcentrating on their legal identity as workers, on their jobs and their right to work.Through this new form of attack, the existence and relevance of the profession arenow challenged.

Therefore, the demands for legally amended appointment letters to the field workersin Form A under SPE Act to recognize them as workers; suspension of all salespromotion work till compliance; photo identity cards by state governments afterverification of appointment letters in Form A or recognition of such I-cards which wereissued by the registered unions of sales promotion employees; unfettered right towork with registered medical practitioners, hospitals and institutions and reductionand control of medicine prices assumed prime importance.

This attack is combined with massive misleading propaganda holding the fieldworkers responsible for high and spiraling prices of medicines and pharma corporatecorruption. It is a cover up exercise of government's adamant refusal of even SupremeCourt's direction of cost-based price control and tax relief of essential and othermedicines and refusal to enactment of law to punish pharma corporates for corruption.Therefore, the demands and movement should also include pharma corporate -government nexus for corruption and high and spiraling prices of medicines; anddeliberate policy failures on both.

The delegates, coming in the 23rd conference of FMRAI at Kolkata, will undertakeexercise to understand the nature of attack and to decide priority areas and futuredirections of the field workers movement.

New Phase and Future Movement Rs. 10,000 as minimum wage is a majordemand for 20-21 February, 2013 nation-wide general strike of the workers. All CentralTrade Unions and Industrial Federations,representing the entire working class of thecountry, raised this demand. It is importantto note that the trade unions raised thisdemand for the first time in the nationalconvention of the workers in New Delhi on 7September, 2011.

Working Class Family Income &Expenditure Survey, 1999-2000, conductedby Labour Bureau, shows that on an averagemore than 4 persons in a family depend onincome of 1 (one) worker. Therefore, theminimum wage of the worker shall take intoconsideration the expenses incurred by 4members' family unit of a worker.

The Planning Commission itself hadadopted an average of 2100 calorie in urbanareas per person per day as minimumnutritional norms or the poverty line. Basedon NSS Reports No.538 on ConsumerExpenditure and No.540 on NutritionalIntake in 2009-2010 in urban areas, to meetthe requirement of this 2100 calorie intakeper person per day bench mark of PlanningCommission itself would require Rs.2,125in 2009-2010. And for a family of four (4)would require Rs.8,500 per month just to beon poverty line.

With 12.5% inflation rate in next two years,based on the consumers price index for theworking class, this amount of Rs.8,500 comesto Rs.10,758 per month in 2011-2012 andhigher in the current 2012-2013 financial year.

But, Minimum Wage has to be higherthan the poverty line expenditure.

Rs. 10,000 as MinimumWage Justified

It is important to note the latest 66thround of National Sample Survey (NSS)report, which shows that health care andother minimum necessities gobble up majorportion of the income of the workers. Suchexpenses combined with high rate of foodinflation and spiraling price rise, forced theworkers to cut their food expenses resultingin sharp drop in calorie intake of entireworker's family. NSS report also shows thaton the basis of Planning Commission's 2100calorie intake norms itself, 74% of urbanpeople were living below it and almost all ofthem are unorganized labour to whomMinimum Wages Act applies.

A state-wise study will show that in thecurrent financial year, the maximum amountas minimum wage is fixed as Rs.6,000.Whatever the minimum wages are fixed,those are also not being paid, under somepretext, pushing the vast majority of workersmuch below the poverty line struggling forsurvival and suffering from malnutrition.

Therefore, working class is justified inurgently demanding Rs.10,000 as MinimumWage which needs to be adjusted with pricerise and inflation.

The Planning Commission wasestablished for planned development for thepeople of the country. However, samePlanning Commission, which fixed 2100calories per day per person in urban areasas minimum nutritional norms; spent 30lakhs for renovation of Yojna Bhavan toiletsand CCTV for surveillance; and arbitrarilyand ridiculously announces Rs.32 per dayper person as poverty line in urban areas.

[From: Working Class, January, 2013 ]

As part of FMRAI's Golden Jubileecelebration, a convention on Neo-liberalpolicies-Task before working class wasorganised at Sundarayya Kala Nilayam,Hyderabad on 9 December, participated byaround 200 FMRAI members and membersof fraternal trade unions.

All India Insurance EmployeesAssociation's (AIIEA) general secretary KVenugopal, CITU's Andhra Pradesh stategeneral secretary Sudha Bhasker andFMRAI's president R Vishwanathan werethe speakers, dealt the dangers of neo-liberal policies, task of working class anddemands of country-wide general strike on20 and 21 February, 2013. During hisdeliberation, Venugopal explained thecharacter of crony capitalism, corruptions

Trade Union Convention at Hyderabadand scams in every sector as a fallout ofthis policy, disastrous effects of FDI oncountry's economy etc. He also recalledabout the joint movement of AIIEA andFMRAI from the days of Super 301agitations. Sudha Bhasker explained aboutthe task and emphasized on the unitedactions of central trade unions and the roleof working class in Government's policyreversal. Vishwanathan touched upon onthe effects of reforms and role of FMRAI inhealth and medicine related issues.

FMRAI's general council member A.Nageshwar Rao formed the dias, workingcommittee member I Raju Bhat placed voteof thanks and Mukund Kulkarni presidedover the convention. Media gave widepublicity of the event.

FIRST reconstituted meeting of theJharkhand State Minimum Wage AdvisoryBoard, held on 12 December, unanimouslydecided to notify (i) inclusion of 'SalesPromotion Employees covered under SalesPromotion Employees (Conditions ofService) Act, 1976 (SPE Act) (Present &Future)' in the schedule of the industriesunder Minimum Wages Act; and (ii) to putthem in 'highly skilled' category. On behalfof CITU a justification note was presentedfor notification on both which was fullysupported by all other attending central tradeunions - AITUC, INTUC, HMS and BMS. Onbehalf of CITU, its senior state leaderNarendra Misra and B.K.L. Das, FMRAI andBSSR Union leaders Ratan Chakravorty andAnirban Bose attended the meeting.

Sales promotion employees only ofpharmaceutical industry were covered under

Government to notifyminimum wages for

sales promotion employeesSPE Act till 2010. After national tripartitemeeting, central government extended it to10 other industries in January, 2011 whichinclude surgical equipment (includingar tificial prosthesis and diagnostics);electronics, computers (includingaccessor ies and spares); electr icalappliances; ayurvedic, unani andhomeopathic medicines; automobiles(including spare spares and accessories);paints; cosmetics, soaps, householdcleaners and disinfectants; readymadegarments; soft drink manufacturing; biscuitsand confectionaries. Under all India initiativeof FMRAI, its state unit, the Bihar-JharkhandSales Representatives Union, (CITU) wasstruggling for long for inclusion of salespromotion in the list of scheduled industry.(Inputs: Ratan Chakravorty) [From: WorkingClass, January, 2013]

FMRAI NEWS JANUARY 2013

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S T R I K E P H O T O SS T R I K E P H O T O SS T R I K E P H O T O SS T R I K E P H O T O SS T R I K E P H O T O S

RANCHI ALWAR AHMEDNAGAR

KARIMNAGAR GUWAHATI SHIMLA

RATLAM DAVANGERE BARIPADA

KANGRA JUNAGADH MALLAPURAM

BANKURA ORAI SATARA


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GIRIDIH CHINDWARA KOTA

SALEM KOLKATA, (Inset) Dipak Dasgupta addressing BHATINDA

SURAT GULBARGA BARGARH

KANPUR KARAD SHIMOGA

SHILLONG SHAJHANPUR DURG


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KOLLAM BERHAMPUR PALI

CHANDRAPUR KANNUR BEGUSARAI

MANDI RATLAM TRICHY

COOCHBEHAR UDAIPUR KUKATPALLY

24Parganas (North) GOA GUWAHATI


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4 December strike was complete and total. Completecessation of field work was observed in all states and Unionterritories, from Kashmir Valley to Kanyakumari and fromAizwal to Gujarat, even in the remotest corner whereorganisational outfits are absent and made inroadsamongst unorganized sections. Tens of thousands of fieldworkers picketed in all cities and towns, took out rallies,organized mass meetings addressed by CITU and othereminent leaders of fraternal organisations, submittedmemoranda before district labour and civil authorities.

In Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, on the strike day, localpolice administration filed FIR against BSSR Union onalleged charge of creating obstructions in Government's

Field Workers' Countrywide Strikefunctioning, usage of mike etc. while they were stagingdemonstration, alongwith simultaneous separatedemonstrations by other three organizations, in front ofdistrict commissioner's office and later on submittedmemorandum to him. Later, on 9 December, in a statelevel convention at Ranchi on 20 - 21 February nation-wide strike of all the constituents adopted a resolutioncondemning the police action and demanded withdrawalof the false police case and forwarded to Jharkhand chiefminister. Similar resolutions were adopted in FMRAI's eastzone meeting at Patna on 9 December and by the tradeunions of Singhbhum district on 14 December in apreparatory meeting in view of 18 December Jail Bharo

from page-1

programme.In another significant development in Kolkata, led by a

doctor and local TMC councilor of Sinthee area, alongwithhired musclemen let loose terror on the striking fieldworkers who were staging picketing there. The red flags,posters were tore off, threatened the striking workers ofphysical assault in case they did not leave the place and soon. Protesting against this, around 200 infuriated WBMSRUmembers assembled there on 6 December in a publicmeeting with prior police intimation. During the meeting, theTMC goons and anti-socials again came back and disruptedthe meeting in presence of police who remained silentonlookers and even refused to accept the FIR.

DelhiIn Delhi, the strike was complete in

places like Ambedkar hospital, Mahaveerhospital, Saroj hospital, Jaipur Goldenhospital and Muni Mayaram hospital innor th Delhi; GTB hospital and Waliahospital in east Delhi; Safdarjung hospitalin south Delhi and DDU hospital in westDelhi. The strike was also successful inother areas of Delhi NCT.

Earlier, DSMRO organized strikeconvention. Field workers wore demandbadges and widely campaigned in hospitalsand other market places with leaflets duringNovember 22 to December 3.

Punjab - ChandigarhEnthusiastic members of PCMSRU

made the strike successful in the state ofPunjab and Chandigarh. Prior to the strike,posters were pasted and campaigning wasdone amongst doctors. In Chandigarh, 160members directly participated in the strikeaction. In Bhatinda and Pathankot, rallieswere brought out and memoranda weresubmitted to the district labour authorities.In Moga, rally was organized; doctors werein support of the strike demands anddenied meeting some unaware fieldworkers. In Amritsar, the rally wasculminated in a dharna in front of the districtlabour office which was addressed byFMRAI's working committee member andvice president of PCMSRU Gurpreet Singhand others. Memorandum was submittedto the assistant labour commissioner.Memoranda were also submitted to districtlabour authorities in Ludhiana, Ferozpur,Jalandhar and Patiala. The strike was alsosuccessful in Hosiarpur and Sangrur wheremany non members participated in strikeaction through council mobilization. Thestrike and its related demands attractedmedia with wide coverage.

Jammu - KashmirThe strike was successful in the state

of Jammu & Kashmir. Posters were pasted;memoranda were sent and the membersof JKMSRA wore demand badges. InSopore, 159 members assembled in ameeting which was addressed by unitpresident Khursheed Niyazi and unitsecretary Mufti Moin. In Anantnag, suchmeeting attended by 116 field workers wasaddressed by unit president Samiullah anda memorandum was submitted to theassistant labour commissioner ofAnantnag. Press statement was issued.

Uttar PradeshUttarakhand

More than 2500 members of UPMSRAactively participated in the strike actionsand made the strike overwhelminglysuccessful in the states of Uttar Pradeshand Uttarakhand. Field workers woredemand badges for two days prior to strike.Strike notice was served to the executivesin the field and extensive campaigning was

conducted through leaflets.On the day of strike, rallies were brought

out and memoranda were submitted inplaces like Lucknow, Moradabad, Roorkee,Muzaffarnagar, Baraut, Shamli, Meerut,Ghaziabad, Modinagar, Bulandshahar,Bijnour, Hapur, Amroha, Chandousi, Noida,Chandpur, Dhampur, Bareilly, Pilibihit,Shahajahanpur, Kashipur, Sitapur,Lakhimpur, Barabanki, Hardoi, Raibareli,Gonda, Balrampur, Bahraich, Fazabad,Ambedkarnagar, Gorakhpur, Basti, Deoria,Sidhar tNagar, Jaunpur, Allahabad,Mirzapur, Pratapgarh, Banda, Robertsganj,Varanasi, Mau, NathBhanjan, Azamgarh,Ballia, Ghazipur, Kanpur, Etawah, Mainpuri,Farrukhabad, Orai(Jalaun), Unnao, Jhansi,Firozabad, Etah, Agra, Aligarh, Mathura,Kasganj, Dehradun, Haldwani and Haridwar.Press statements were also released.

Himachal PradeshIn Hinachal Pradesh, there was

complete cessation of field work. Membersof Shimla, Mandi, Kangra, Dharamsahla,Hamirpur, Una, Jassur and Solan units ofHPMRA took out rallies, submittedmemoranda to Union ministry of chemical& fertilizers, health & family welfare andlabour through deputy commissioners.Leaflets distribution and badge wearingwere done in all these units. On the strikeday, public campaign explaining strikedemands was conducted by the units whichwere addressed by CITU and HPMRAleaders. Both print and electronic mediawidely covered the strike demands.

Haryana4 December strike was a grand success

in Haryana. Field workers of Ambala,Yamunanagar, Rohtak, Hissar, Rewari andGurgaon assembled in the unit office, formedstrike squads, pasted posters, wore badges,held public meetings etc. The meetings wereaddressed by Yogesh Tyagi, Ambala unitpresident; Manoj Kumar at Rohtak, Hissarunit president Balwinder Singh; Atul inRewari; Prashant Madan and Vijay Malik inGurgaon. CITU leader Surender Malikaddressed the striking field workers inRohtak. Gugaon unit submitted a copy of thememorandum to the labour authority.

RajasthanIn Rajasthan, field work came to a

standstill in all 15 units - Alwar, Ajmer,Bhilwara, Bharatpur, Bikaner, Jaipur,Jodhpur, Jhunjhunu, Kota, Nagour, Pali,Sikar, Sri Ganganagar, Udaipur andSwaimadhepur and 7 satellite units -Barmer, Banswara, Dausa, Hanumangarh,Dhoulpur, Jalore and Gangapur city ofRMSRU. Around 1500 field workers activelyparticipated in programmes like strikesquads, rallies, memorandum submissionsetc. Gate meeting outside medical college,rallies at medicine wholesale market,vehicle rallies were organized in the units.

Prior to strike, leaflets were distributed,members wore badges, special general

body meetings were held in most of theunits. Both electronic and print mediaspecially at Kota, Udaipur, Alwar, Pali andJodhpur covered the strike news.

Karnataka4 December strike was a grand success

throughout Karnataka. Rallies, dharnaswere conducted and memoranda weresubmitted to district collectors and postingof the memorandum to Central labour,chemical and fertilizers; health and familywelfare ministers and to State chief ministerwere done by all 17 units. FMRAI secretaryP N Subramaniam addressed the gatheringat one of the strike centers at Bengaluruand, later, led a delegation to the labourauthority and pursued the demands. BikeRallies were conducted in Davengere andShimoga, particpated by hundreds of fieldworkers. Rally was conducted at Mandya,Mysore, Belgaum and Hubli also. InGulbarga, 194 field workers participated ina rally. Dharna was conducted at Mangalore,Hassan, Bijapur, Bellary, Bidar, Raichur, andBagalkot. Udupi, Tumkur units and satelliteunits of Sirsi, Gadag, Gokak and Gangavatialso organized effective strike programmes.All 17 units submitted memorandum torespective district authorities raising slogansin front of the offices. Strike programme wascovered by print and electronic media atmajority of the units.

To make the 4 December str ikesuccessful, leaders of KSM&SRAeffectively followed up the preparatory workacross all the units. For effectivecampaigning of the strike demands, fieldworkers pasted posters in key areas,badges were worn during field work,leaflets were distributed to field workers,doctors, chemists and distributors; generalpublic and to the media.

Tamilnadu-PuducherryAs per the call of FMRAI, 4 December

strike was completely successful in all 18units of TNMSRA in Tamilnadu andPuducherry. On the str ike day,demonstrations were conducted atCuddalore, Tanjore, Kumbakonam, Trichy,Dindigul, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil and Erode.At Kanchipuram, a street corner meetingwas conducted. At Salem 200 field workerstook out a rally. Hall meetings wereconducted at Villupuram, Dharmapuri andTuticorin. Strike Squads in South Chennai,North Chennai, Vellore, Cuddalore,Villupuram, Pondy, Tanjore, Kumbakonam,Trichy, Coimbatore, Salem, Madurai Eastand Madurai West were operationalthroughout the day ensuring completecessation of field work.

Earlier, strike conventions were held,leaflets in Tamil were circulated, memberswore demand badges, pasted posters,strike notices were served to 405executives in the field, strike demands weresent to 3 Central ministers and Tamilnaduchief minister from the TNMSRA statecentre as well as from all units.

KeralaComplete cessation of field work was

reported in Kerala. More than 3000 fieldworkers were available at the strike centersand for squad work. In all the 11 districtsrallies were organized in the morning andconcluded at the strike centers. The strikecenters in all the district was inauguratedby CITU and other fraternal trade unionsand mass organizations leaders, MLAs. Abike rally was organized at Muvattupuzha,Ernakulam district. In Pathanamthitta,Alappuzha and Wayanad, rallies wereorganized concluding in a public meeting.Strike was successful in Trivandrum,Kollam, Kassargod also.

Earlier, as preparatory work,conventions were held in 148 areasexplaining the strike demands followed bydistrict level conventions, field workers woredemand badges, organized street cornermeetings and press conferences.Memoranda were sent to the Hon'ble Unionministers - Gulam Nabi Azad, MallikarjunKharge and Alagiri and to the chief ministerthrough the district collectors. The strikenotices were handed over to 94 depots ofvarious companies at Ernakulam, Calicut,Trichur and Kannur and to the managersduring joint work in all the districts.Handbills in English and Malayalam weredistributed to doctors, chemist and public.

Andhra PradeshStrike was complete and total in Andhra

Pradesh. Around 3100 members in all 26units of APMSRU participated in the rallies,dharnas and squads in which 78 leadersfrom various fraternal organisations, 12functionaries of IMA and 3 MLCsaddressed, greeted and expressed theirstaunch support to the cause.

Badges were worn by the field workers,Posters were pasted and thousands ofleaflets in telegu on strike demands weredistributed amongst field workers, doctorsand public. Strike notices and lettersaddressed to the Andhra Pradesh chiefminister and three Central ministers weresubmitted to the district authorities in 26sub units. Guntur unit alone mobilized 325members for the success of the strike. Bothprint and electronic media extensivelycovered the strike news.

GoaStrike was a great success of all over

Goa. Field workers in strike squads, both insouth and north Goa, maintained strong vigil.Doctors were campaigned about the strikedemands. In the face of protests, some ofthe companies' managers left field work.GoaMRA leader Sushil Raut addressed thestriking workers in north Goa.

Madhya PradeshChattishgarh

4 December strike was complete andtotal in all 22 units and many satellite units

Following are the state-wise report

see page-7


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of Madhya Pradesh and Chattishgarh.Thousands of field workers participated invarious programmes including rallies,demonstrations, public meetings,demonstrations before distr ictadministrations with memorandumsubmission etc. Eminent leaders of CITU,insurance union, BSNL, teachers'organization, bank, kissan sabha and otherfraternal organizations addressed andgreeted the striking field workers.

In Bhopal, massive demonstration washeld at Dawa Bazar, rally was organisedand submitted the memorandum. Ameeting was held at strike center which wasaddressed by CITU district secretary P. N.Verma, MPMSRU president S.K.Talukdar,treasurer Anurag Saxena, unit secretaryAbhay Rai and others. Strike wassuccessful in satellite units of Vidisha,Hoshangabad and Itarsi also.

More than 100 field workersparticipated in dharna and rally andsubmitted memorandum to districtadministration in Gwalior. CITU's M.P stategeneral secretary Pramod Pradhan,MPMSRU's vice president SantoshDoneria and unit secretary Rajesh Sharmaaddressed the striking field workers. Fieldworkers took out rally and submittedmemorandum in Morena, satellite unit ofGwalior. Rallies were organized in Ratlamand its satellite units of Neemuch andMandsaur. Memorandum was handed overto district collector. Leaders of fraternalorganizations of WREU, CITU andTeacher's association greeted. MPMSRUgeneral secretary Shailendra Sharmaaddressed a public meeting at hospitalchowk in Khandwa participated by largenumber of members. After the meeting arally was organized and a delegation ledby him met the district collector andsubmitted memorandum. Str ike wassuccessful in Guna, Sagar and satellite unitShivpuri.

In Indore, a meeting was held at DawaBazar. Rally could be organized aspermission was denied. A delegationsubmitted memorandum to the districtadministration. Rally was organized andmemorandum was given to district collectorin Khargone. In Ujjain, field workers stageddharna, took out bike rally and submittedmemoranda. CITU leader Ram Tyagi, BSNLleader Manoj Sharma, LIC LeaderPrashant Sohne and others greeted.

Strike centre was put up at Dawa Bazarwith banners, posters in Jabalpur. Generalsecretary of Jabalpur division of insuranceemployees union, CITU leader G. N. Kumarbesides MPMSRU leaders RajeevThyagrajan, Anjana Dixit, Bhanu Soniaddressed the striking field workers. InChindwara, fraternal trade union leadersof CITU, BSNL, Kisan Sabha, LIC, Bankgreeted the striking field workers. Membersin a rally submitted memorandum to districtcollector. Rally was conducted andsubmitted memoranda in Balaghat andBetul also.

Successful reports of strike havepoured in from Satna, Rewa, Katni,Chhatarpur and the satellite units of Pannaand Tikamgarh also. Public meetings wereaddressed by leaders from LIC, Stategovernment employees, AITUC, INTUC,DYFI, LIC, Kissan Sabha and others inSatna and Rewa.

In Raipur, strike centre was set up atBudhatalab Dharnasthal and, publicmeeting held and submitted memorandum.Rally could not be organized as permissionwas denied. Strike was successful in

Field Workers' Countrywide Strikesatellite units of Dhamtari and Jagdalpur.Rallies were conducted, public meetingswere held and memoranda were submittedto district authorities in Durg, Bilaspur,Raigadh and Ambikapur and their satelliteunits- Rajnandgaon and Manendragarh. Inthe face of demonstration, Cipla had to calloff the meeting at Bilaspur.

MaharashtraWith massive par ticipation of field

workers, 4 December strike in Maharashtrawas total in 19 units of MSMRA.Programmes organized by the members ofMSMRA on the day of strike like rallies,demonstrations, memoranda submissionsto district administrations etc. attracted widecoverage in both print and electronic media.For the first time in Kopargaon, a satelliteunit of Ahemadnagar, brought a rally outby the striking field workers. Bhandara, anewly formed unit of MSMRA, organizedmotor cycle rally and demonstration beforecollector's office and memorandum wassubmitted to collector. In Satara, fieldworkers par ticipated in a rally anddemonstrated in front of the collector'soffice and submitted memorandum to thecollector. 100 field workers including 8women field workers in Karad participatedin rally and demonstration beforetahasildar's office and submittedmemorandum. Field workers ofAurangabad unit of MSMRA joined rally,demonstrated before collector's office andsubmitted memorandum. In Beed, strikingfield workers brought out two wheeler rallyand submitted memorandum to thecollector followed by massivedemonstration. Similar programmes wereorganized in Latur, Nanded, Jalna,Parbhani, Wardha, Chandrapur andGondia. Massive demonstration wasorganized at RBI chowk in Nagpur whichwas followed by submission ofmemorandum to the collector. Rallies werealso brought out at Ahemadnagar,Shrirampur, Solapur and Baramatiparticipated by 340 members. Members ofSangamner unit submitted memorandumto the collector. Strike was also successfulin Pune where more than ninety per centfield workers abstained from field on theday of strike.

GujaratOn 4 December, field work was

paralyzed in Ahmedabad, Baroda, Surat,Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Jamnagar,Mehsana, Himmatnagar and Palanpur inthe state of Gujrat. In Surat, dharna wasorganized in front of collector's officefollowed by submission of memorandum tothe collector.

West BengalDespite political impediments, threats

from ruling party sponsored anti socials andprovocations from anti struggle henchmenof managements, 4 December strike in thestate of West Bengal was total as thestriking field workers in all 19 districts ofthe state valiantly participated in strikeactions. In Kolkata, members of WBMSRUwere physically assaulted while pastingposters prior to strike at east Kolkata. Onthe day of strike, field workers weredebarred from organizing picketing pointswith banner in north Kolkata. In both thecases police remained silent spectator.Prior to strike, conventions and generalbody meetings were held in 105 local andbase committee, wall writing was done, 150flex were displayed, 10000 leaflets weredistributed, 6000 posters were pasted andprominent places were decorated with flags

and banners. On 30 November, leaders ofWBMSRU met the press at Kolkata PressClub which attracted wide media coverageon strike demands. More than 500 strikenotices were served to differentmanagement and executives. On the dayof strike, 27 street corner and massmeetings were organized throughout thestate. In several districts two wheeler ralliesand torch light processions were organized.Thousands of WBMSRU membersattended the picketing points and attendedthe district wise rallies and meetings. InKolkata, around 800 members attended acolourful rally which started from the statecentre and culminated into a mass meetingat Esplanade. The mass meeting wasaddressed by CITU's state generalsecretary Dipak Dasgupta, FMRAI'sgeneral secretary D.P. Dubey, WBMSRU'spresident Rabin Deb and its generalsecretary Sumahan Chakraborty. Adelegation met the additional laboursecretary of the government of WestBengal and submitted a memorandum.

OdishaThe strike was successful in Angul,

Balasore, Berhampur, Bhubaneswar,Bhawanipatna, Bolangir, Bhadrak, Bargarh,Baripada, Cuttack, Jeyopore, Jajpur Town,Rourkela and Sambalpur and in satelliteunits in Dhenkanal, Jajpur Road,Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar,Kendrapara, Puri, Phulbani,Pharlakhemundy, Raygada, Sundargarh,and Titlagarh districts with massivepar ticipation of field workers. Strikeconventions were held in all units of OSRUto discuss the strike demands which wereaddressed by the leaders of OSRU, CITUand other trade unions and massorganizations. Strike notices were servedto the executives during field work. Morethan 1000 posters were pasted throughoutthe state. Press statements were issued bythe district committees in all districts beforethe strike. Both print and electronic mediahas given wide coverage of the strike andrelated demands.

On the day of strike, field workers woredemand badges, colourful two wheelerrallies were taken out in all districts whichwere culminated in rallies before the officesof the district administrations after coveringimportant places of the towns. Memorandawere submitted. In Balasore andBerhampur, rallies were organized one daybefore the strike. Street corners meetingswere held and 5000 leaflets in English andOdiya highlighting the demands of thestrike were distributed amongst doctors,chemists and common people.

North EastIn the entire north east region, from

Dhubri to Aizwal, the field work wascompletely ceased on December 4. Priorto the strike, district wise strike committeeswere formed, 3000 posters were pastedand special general body meetings wereheld. Field workers wore demand badgesfor three consecutive days including the dayof the strike. More than 5000 leaflets weredistributed.

On the day of the strike, picketing was

organized in bus stands, railway stations,hospitals, institutions and market places.At Guwahati, a colourful procession wasorganized which was culminated in a rallybefore the office of the deputycommissioner of Kamrup (Metro) districtwho was met in a delegation by theleadership of CRU and memorandum wassubmitted. Memoranda were alsosubmitted by all districts of CRU namelyDhubr i, Bongaigaon, Barpeta Road,Nalbar i, Mangaldai, Tezpur, NorthLakhimpur, Nagaon, Jorhat, Tinsukia,Dibrugarh, Silchar, Agartala, Imphal,Goalpara, Dimapur, Shillong and Aizwal.Field workers from the areas, where no unitof CRU exists, also abstained from the field.Both print and electronic media widelycovered the event including the demandsof the strike.

Bihar - JharkhandWith spontaneous participation of more

than 15,000 sales promotion employees,the strike was complete in the states ofBihar and Jharkhand which witnessedhuge public support and wide mediacoverage. Trade unions, massorganizations and doctors extended fullestsuppor t to the strike. As a par t ofpreparatory activities, meetings were heldin all 29 units and 15 satellite units ofBSSRU, posters were pasted in marketplaces, leaflets were distributed and pressstatements were released.

On the day of strike, field workers joinedin strike squads in market places, railwaystations and bus stands, rallies and streetcorner meetings were organized andmemoranda were submitted to the districtauthorities in Ara, Begusarai, Bettiah,Bhagalpur, Biharsharif, Bokaro, Chapra,Daltonganj, Dehri-on-Sone, Deoghar,Dhanbad, Gaya, Giridih, Hazaribagh,Jamshedpur, Laheriasarai, Motihari,Munger, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Purnea,Ranchi, Saharsha, Sahebganj, Samastipur,Sasaram, Sitamarhi and Siwan. The strikewas also successful in Buxar, Nawada,Khagaria, Garwa, Aaurangabad, Dumka,Hazipur, Tilaya, Ramgarh, Lakhisarai,Araria, Chaibasa, Kishanganj, Godda andGopalganj where organizational outfit is yetto develop. In Patna, a huge torchlightprocession (masal julus) was brought outon the eve of strike. In a hotel at Patna,both print and electronic media was briefedabout the demands of the strike byBSSRU's general secretary DeepakBhattacharya, its president SanjayChatterjee and treasurer Kalyan Acharya.

Comrade PrasantaKumar Bar ik, 34, a fieldworker working in Ind-Swiftand a member of Balasore

CONDOLENCE

of people including more than 50 OSRUmembers were present in the cremationground. Later, Balasore unit collectedand contr ibuted Rs. 60.000 to thebereaved family.

FMRAI mourns the untimely death ofComrade Prasanta Barik and conveysheartfelt condolence to his bereavedfamily.

unit of OSRU, passed away on 16November at Cuttack. He was sufferingfrom hepatitis B. He was the only son oftheir parents, left behind his wife, a minorson, parents and two sisters. Hundreds

Comrade Prasanta Kumar Barik

from page-6GreetingsGreetingsGreetingsGreetingsGreetings

FMRAI NewsFMRAI NewsFMRAI NewsFMRAI NewsFMRAI NewsWishes its readers,

subscribers andwell wishers a

happy 2013

FMRAI NEWS

Printed by D P Dubey, published by D P Dubey on behalf of Federation of Medical and Sales Representatives’ Associations of India and printed at SatyajugEmployees Co-operative Industrial Society Ltd. 13 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Kolkata-700 072 and published at 60-A, Charu Avenue Kolkata-700 033

EDITOR : D P DUBEY

Registration No. WBENG/2001/6430 Postal Registration No. KOL RMS/106/2013-2015JANUARY 2013

In pursuit of bringing neworientation of functioning ofzonal committees, as perAgenda of Action-2010 and toreview the tasks decided inroad map, 2012, annual zonalconventions were held in eastand south zone. Here is a briefreport.

100 out of 162 eligibledelegates, from Tamilnadu,Karnataka, Kerala and AndhraPradesh, participated in the SouthZone convention at ComradeDipankar Mukherjee Nagar, Salemon 16 December, inaugurated byFMRI secretary P. N.Subramanian. 8 delegates, 2 fromeach state, participated in thediscussion on the reports placedby FMRAI secretary in charge T.Kameshwar Rao on organizationand movements conducted in2012 and V Vasusedevan oncouncil and related movements. Allthe four state committees alsoshared their experiences during2012, made critical observationsand made suggestions.Kameshwar Rao then summed upthe discussion.

FMRAI secretary RameshSundar placed the major decisionsof the recently held secretariatmeeting, urged the delegates to

Annual Zonal Conventionsand North Zone Rally Held

carry forward the movement andto make 20 - 21 February, 2013country-wide general strike agrand success.

East Zone convention washeld at Patna on 9 December,attended by 93 delegatescomprising of FMRAI's workingcommittee and general councilmembers; all India, joint all India,zonal and joint zonal conveners ofthe zone. While inaugurating theconvention, FMRAI's vicepresident L. N. Chakrabarty briefedthe 50 years glorious andstruggling history of FMRAI andreminded the participants of theirrole to carry forward the futurestruggles.

Following hoisting FMRAI flagby vice president DipakBhattacharjee, the business session

250 members of JKMSRA,PCMSRU, HPMRA, HSMSRU,RMSRU, DSMRO and UPMSRAassembled in north zone rally andstaged dharna on 10 December inNew Delhi to press the demandsbefore Delhi state government, asper FMRAI's annual taskdocument, road map, 2012.

The dharna was addressed byFMRAI's joint general secretary A.K. Banerjee, secretaries SanjeevKhandelwal and R. P. Singh; CITUDelhi state secretary Mohan,HPMRA general secretaryJagdish Thakur, PCMSRU leaderSanjeev Mahajan, JKMSRAleader Raksha Pal Singh,DSMRO general secretaryT.K.Mitra, and UPMSRAsecretary Neeraj Srivastava.Working committee memberS.Banerjee presided.

started with placement of report bysecretary in charge SanjayChateerjee. The entire participantsthen divided in four groups -organisation, policy related, staterelated and council and relatedmovements organized pinpointeddiscussion and made valuablesuggestions which was placed byone from each group in the generalsession. FMRAI secretary and CRUgeneral secretary Bijan Das and 7delegates from four states alsodelivered on the report which wasthen summed up by SanjayChatterjee.

A four member presidiumconsisting of DipakBhattacharjee, Bijan Das,Madhusudan Som and PranabSarkar presided over theconvention.

North Zone Rally

On the previous day, zonalcouncil subcommittee meetingwas held, presided over bySourabh Bose. Membersdiscussed the note placed by jointgeneral secretary A. K. Banerjee

Later, a delegation led by R.

P. Singh alongwith SanjeevKhandelwal, T.K.Mitra andK.K.Mittal met the labour authorityof Delhi government andsubmitted the memorandum onwhich labour minister fixed themeeting on 18 December.

Demanding settlement ofpending charter of demands,appointment letters to alldifferently designated fieldworkers in Form A of SPE Act,grievance committee meeting;protesting against illegal andunilateral imposition of mobilereporting system in violation ofSection 9A of Industrial DisputesAct, 1947, against illegal andarbitrary deduction of wages andexpenses, against victimizations;70% USV field workers,irrespective of divisions anddesignations, ceased field work

USV Field Workers'2 Days Strike

FMRAI's district council sub-committees along with the strikingfield workers staged dharnas indistricts and at State centres, localUSV field workers alongwith statecouncil sub-committees stageddharna / demonstrations in frontof company's establishments,C&Fs, labour author ities,franchisee agents' offices andcompany distributors at Kolkata,Cuttack, Guwahati, Patna,Lucknow, Chandigarh, Chennai,Madurai, Hyderabad, Cochin,Raipur, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur,Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam,

on 28 - 29 November all over thecountry.

On receipt of the strike notice,the management becameunnerved, resor ted tointimidation, threatening andmisleading the field workers todisrupt the str ike. However,ignoring management's threat ofdeduction of salary for morenumber of days for two daysstrike, intimidation of takingactions for strike participation andclaiming to have verdict in theirfavour in respect of illegal andunilaterally imposed mobilereporting system to mislead thefield workers; 28-29 strike wassuccessful all over the country.Shortly, meeting of USV councilleaders would be called to takestock of the situation and todecide future course.

Guntur, Varanasi, Kolhapur,Sholapur, Jamnagar, Surat andBhavnagar. USV all Indiaconvener and FMRAI president,R Viswanathan addressed thestriking workers at Kolkata. 121complaints with labour authoritieswere filed across the countrydemanding Appointment letters inForm-A and maintenance of otherrecords and registers, as requiredunder the provisions of SPE Actand its Rules. Leadership ofFMRAI, state and USV counciladdressed the dharnas before thecompany and Labour offices.

Based on the complaint,assistant labour commissioner ofJullandhar issued notice to themanagement to appear beforehim on 18 December with allservice books and registers forinspection.

Against highhandedand anti-field workerposition of theCoimbatore based zonalmanager of HimalayaDrug who is instrumentalin malafide transfer ofone field worker, 41 outof 53 Himalaya fieldworkers of Kerala struckwork on 28 Novemberand 34 of them staged dharna infront of the company's office atErnakulam. KMSRA generalsecretary Paul Vergheseinaugurated the dharna and wasaddressed by R Ramakrishnan,state committee member andNishanth Krishnan, KMSRA'sHimalaya council convener.

On the strike day, Kerala Highcourt dismissed themanagement's writ petitionpraying police protection for its

managers. High Court recordingKMSRA's submission and madeclear that the Union had right toconduct legitimate trade unionactivities in pursuance to theirdemands.

Interestingly, the culpr itmanager is instrumental also informing an 'association' obtainingINTUC affiliation with hisresidential address as its officeaddress, with some of the depotstaff and 5 or 6 field workers,which is unheard of.

A three member delegationled by FMRAI secretary R. P.Singh, DSMRO general secretaryT. K. Mitra and state committeemember K. K. Mittal met the labourminister, Delhi, Dr. A. K. Walia,who also holds the healthportfolio, on 18 December andsubmitted a memorandumdemanding appointment letter inForm A of SPE Act, fixation andnotification of working hoursunder section 13 of MinimumWages Act, notification ofminimum wages for salespromotion employees in 'highly

DSMRO Met Delhi Labour Ministerskilled' category, May Day asholiday and recognition of photoID issued by the union or by thegovernment and constitution of atripartite committee for the salespromotion employees working inDelhi for redressal of theirgrievances.

The minister assured toconsider the demands of DSMRO.Later, the delegation, as advisedby the labour minister, also metthe Health secretary on photo IDcards who assured action afterdiscussion with the lawdepartment.

Geno Strike

management initiated actions likewithholding of wages, cut inexpense statements, seizure ofwork diary etc. on this area whichare agitating minds of the Genofield workers.

When all attempts to resolvethe issues through bilateraldiscussion failed, FMRAI wasconstrained to serve strike notice.However, FMRAI would continueto make endeavour to resolve theissues through dialogue anddiscussion which is the mainstayin bilateral co-operativerelationship.

from page-1

T K Rao addressing the convention

A K Banerjee addressing the rally

Gate meeting at Hyderabad

Dharna at Ernakulam

Himalaya field workersstruck work in Kerala

rs.3 fmrai news vol. xii no. 5 kolkata 1 january...

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