Reliance Communications Leaves 3,000 Employees Out in the Cold

Mangalore Today News Network

Nov 16, 2017: Within a fortnight, once telecom giant Reliance Communications (RCom), headquartered in Navi Mumbai, will shut shop. Well, most of it.

 

Riddled with debt to the tune of Rs 44,300 crore and defeated by the price war triggered by brother Mukesh Ambani’s Jio business, the Anil Ambani-owned company plans to shut down its 2G and 3G wireless operations and voice call services come 30 November.

Moving forward, RCom will operate as an Mobile Virtual Network Organiser (MVNO) offering only 4G services and focussing more on its Business-to-Business segment. An MVNO doesn’t have its own licensed spectrum or network. Instead, it buys minutes from other telecom companies and sells them under its brand using their network.

These drastic moves are a part of its Strategic Debt Restructuring pact with its lenders, which gives it time until December 2018 to pay off its debt, but only until December 2017 to significantly reduce it, failing which the lenders take over the company’s and its subsidiaries’ management entirely.

At a RCom town hall in October, Executive Director Gurdeep Singh is learnt to have said that the company had “reached a situation where [they needed] to call it a day…” The company reported its third quarterly loss in month in September worth Rs 2,709 crore.

The company informed its workforce in the last week of October that 30 November will be their last date of employment. Considering that aren’t too many alternatives in the job market, that put them in a spot.
The Human Cost

Ashok Kumar Nagraj, a District General Manager in the Karnataka circle, estimates that no less than 2,500-3,000 people have lost their jobs in this process. Losing a job is always stressful, but it is the mismanagement by RCom that is giving Nagraj and thousands of other employees sleepless nights. A petition with over 2,500 signatures and a social media campaign titled #SaveRComEmployees has also been pushed by the employees to voice their serious complaints against the company.

"For Personal Reasons"

Ashok Kumar Nagraj I got a call from the local HR on 24 October. I was asked to put in my papers within 24 hours. On top of that, I was asked to write that I was resigning for “personal reasons”. But it wasn’t just me. The entire cluster had been asked to do the same; we weren’t given any other information or options. So, we did.

This is Ashok’s second stint with RCom. He had earlier worker with the company between 2008 and 15, and recently rejoined it in February this year. The only wage-earner in his family of four, he is worried about what lies in store for him. “If the company had to shut down at all, there is a way to do it. We would all been okay if due process was followed. There was no mention of a settlement or a termination package. We were told we will get our November salary and other outstanding dues as our Full and Final settlement (F&F) in mid-January 2018. I haven’t even received my October salary yet. Everyone at home is always stressed and depressed.”

Kuldeep Yadav, a Territory Sales Manager (TSM) in Satna, Chattisgarh, is also the only earning member amidst his wife, three sisters, mother, grandfather and mentally handicapped father. His area got the same information from the top on 24 October, but with a tighter lip. They were simply asked to resign by 30 November or be terminated, but Kuldeep was one of the few who didn’t.

Courtesy: Yahoo.com