LARKANA, Nov 20: The letters of Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) of Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL) handed over to 65,000 employees working in different cadres had sent shock waves through them, particularly those whose length of service was below 20 years.

Pakistan Telecommunication employees union’s central chairman Zulfikar Sangi termed the offer out of the scope of agreement and said that worst affected cadre would be the telephone operators, who had been offered no pension and medical support.

Talking to Dawn here on Tuesday he said that the number of employees serviced less than 20 years would be around 30,000 in the country.

The agreement reached between the PTCL management and employees’ union during the process of privatisation enshrined the condition that if the strength of the employees should be curtailed they would be offered benefits on the basis of revised scales from July 2005, he said.

Now deviating from the agreement, the VSS had been offered on the basis of basic scales of 2001, which he said, was quite uncalled for.

He claimed that the management of the PTCL had also skipped from its commitment of giving 40 per cent increase in salaries and 10 per cent shares to the workers on the face value basis.

Mr Ayaz Jafferi, general secretary, phones division switching, Larkana, told Dawn that the worst affected section of the employees would be the telephone operators.

The 11-page document was handed over to 450 employees in Larkana phones division, he said.

Mr Sangi said that Pakistan Telecommunication employees’ union had given 72 hours ultimatum to the PTCL management to withdraw the columns of redundant, surplus, not needed, needed, and spare from the offer letter and VSS should be offered in line with the recommendations of the VSS structural committee or it would resort to countrywide protest.