03 January 2004	Saturday	10 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 2: The National Industrial Relations Commission has ordered that there would be three collective bargaining units (CBUs) in the Pakistan Telecommunications Company.

In an order, the NIRC member, Ali Nawaz Channa, said that out of the three CBUs, one would represent administrative staff and workers, another would represent traffic staff and workers and the third one would represent engineering staff and workers, while each one would represent its electorate for five years.

These CBUs had already been declared, but they were not given appropriate opportunity to work and function with full strength and potency, he said. Later, the idea of three CBUs was dropped and the concept of one CBU was introduced, which did not yield the desired results, Mr Channa said, adding that if these units had been allowed to function for their full tenure, with full potency, they would have better served the common interests of the PTCL workers.

In this way there would be harmony between various unions and workers. The petition was filed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Staff Union (Telecom League) against the PTCL in the NIRC.

Initially, the petition was filed against the management and nine unions, but later on two more unions were included. Some of the unions, after filing the written comments, became inactive and did not participate further.