60-A Charu Avenue Kolkata-700 033 Phone : (033)24242862 Fax : (033)24244943 www.fmrai.org E-mail : fmrainews@gmail.com

After consistent effor ts in themeetings with the management andthrough communication with them byFMRAIs CGC members in Ranbaxyfailed to get clear assurance from themanagement about the continuity anduninterrupted jobs with existingemployment conditions, settlements,agreements, awards and representativebodies of the Ranbaxy Sales PromotionEmployees (SPEs) after merger ofRanbaxy with Sun Pharma, except themanagement providing the Scheme ofArrangement as was already availablein public domain; on behalf of all SalesPromotion Employees FMRAI filedObjection Petition before the Punjab andHaryana High Court to the Petition forApproval for Merger, which is a legallymandatory in case of merger ofcompanies.

After hearing FMRAIs petition andboth the par ties submissions andarguments on it, the High Court issuedfinal order on Merger Petition on 9March, 2015 giving approval to it. In thatHigh Court order, the concern of SPEswas addressed on the basis of OralSubmission and Written Undertakingof Sun Pharma as recorded in that order.

In High Court Order it is noted that

Ranbaxy - Sun Pharma Merger

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(i) the SPEs were represented throughFMRAI and both the companiesresponses were on that basis; (ii)

benefits of workmen status andapplicability of Industrial Disputes Actand other labour laws to the SPEs have

been upheld; (iii) Sun Pharmas oralsubmission, quoted in the Order, states,Transferee Company (Sun Pharma) hadundertaken all the liabilities of theTransferor Company (Ranbaxy),especially with regard to the employees.It is only that as against the TransferorCompany, the name of the TransfereeCompany shall be substituted.Conditions of service of all theemployees will remain the same. Allagreements already executed are to behonoured.

Clause 13(a) of the Scheme ofArrangement noted, The TransfereeCompany undertakes to continue toabide by any agreement/ settlement, ifany, validly entered into by theTransferor Company with any union/employee of the Transferor Companyrecognized by the Transferor Company.

FMRAIs main objection was on theproposals in clause 13(b) of the Schemeof Arrangement which gave animpression that after 12 months, SunPharma could change SPEs serviceconditions which would be morebeneficial etc. It gave an impression thatthe clause empowers Sun Pharma tochange SPEs service conditions

Protesting managementshighhanded actions, with 24hours notice, 386 out of total402 including probationerswhich are 96% of total fieldforce in Wallace resorted to aflash strike on 14 March. Strikewas complete and total in allstates and Union territoriesexcept Delhi where it waspartial and Companys salespromotion activities came to agrinding halt. Expressingsupport to the striking fieldworkers, FMRAIs council subcommittees stageddemonstrations beforecompanys establishments and

Wallace Field Workers Flash Strike

submitted memoranda. Thesecretariat of FMRAIcongratulated the Wallace fieldworkers of for their successfulstrike.

Gate meetings were heldwhich were addressed beleaders of FMRAI, its stateunits and Wallace council. AtKolkata, more than 230WBMSRU members stageddemonstration. WBMSRUsgeneral secretary and FMRAIsvice president SumahanChakrabor ty, WBMSRUsecretary Sanjay Senaddressed the participants.Demonstrations at Bangaluru

was addressed by KSM&SRAspresident Suresh; RMSRUsjoint general secretary NiladriRoy and its leader J M Joshiat Jaipur; APMSRUs leader UV Krishnaiya at Vijaywada;BSSRUs general secretaryDevasish Roy at Patna and itspresident Anirban Bose atRanchi; TNMSRAs generalsecretary Ramesh Sundar atChennai; MPMSRUs leaderManish Awasthi at Indore;TMSRUs general secretary IRaju Bhatt at Hyderabad andMSMRAs leader Vishal Joshiat Nagpur. Similardemonstrations were organizedby CRU at Guwahati, byUPMSRA at Lucknow and byOSRU at Bhubaneswar.Demonstration could not beheld at Calicut due to politicalbandh. However managementwas met in deputation by adelegation of KMSRA. Similardeputations met the

Demonstration at Kolkata

Pursuant to their 10 demands, as notified by FMRAI, USVfield workers irrespective of their designations and divisions, fromall states and Union territories except Delhi, and Karnataka tookcasual leave en masse and 341 of them marched to Mumbai andstaged two days dharna on 16-17 March in front of head office ofthe Company. In solidarity with USV field workers, FMRAIs councilsub committees staged protest demonstrations in state capitalsand submitted memoranda. Determined USV field workers didnot fall prey to managements coercion tactics but made the two

USV field workers marched to Mumbai

Dharna in front of Head Office

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See page-2 See page-2

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APRIL 2015

The Order of Punjab and Haryana High Court on 9 March, 2015on Ranbaxy - Sun Pharma merger is a significant development notonly for the erstwhile Ranbaxy field workers, but also for the fieldworkers council movement in particular and trade union movementin general.

Section 25FF(a) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947categorically mentions how the jobs of the employees wouldcontinue uninterrupted in the new company with change ofownership. Yet, this provision is being grossly violated by thecompanies during acquisition and merger of the companies. Mergerand acquisition is taking place in a big way in this neoliberal regime.

In case of Abbott taking over Piramal Healthcare, at FMRAIspersuasion, Maharashtra labour minister intervened and provisionof I D Act was invoked. However, large number of other companiescircumvents this legal provision denying uninterruptedcontinuation of jobs and job conditions, unilaterally endingsettlements and agreements / understandings. In fact, subversionof laws, regulations and rules are the hallmark of these acquisitionsto which central government and labour law enforcementauthorities in the states remain mute spectators. Merger andacquisition runs corollary with de-unionization of the field workersand causing serious disruption in council movement.

The collectively bargained service and working conditionswithered away overnight for Biddle Sawyer and SmithKlineBeecham field workers following acquisition by Glaxo; of Organonfield workers when it was taken over by MSD; of Parke Davis fieldworkers after its acquisition by Pfizer; CFL by Adcock and, of late,Elder when taken over by Torrent. Examples are many. The pastachievements are destroyed / taken away overnight.

In this background, the Kolkata Conference of FMRAI in 2013adopted a resolution against these newer attacks on the securityof jobs, security of trade union and security of service and workingconditions due to these acquisitions which were unfolding at thatpoint of time and urged to develop movement in defence of rightsand gains and to save FMRAIs council movement.

Possibly for the first time, as a trade union, FMRAI submittedits objection petition to the scheme of merger submitted by SunPharma and Ranbaxy before Gujarat and Punjab and Haryana HighCourts for approval and Punjab and Haryana High Court gave thislandmark Order on 9 March. (see news in this issue)

Sun Pharma made oral submission and gave written undertakingin response to FMRAIs petition on the existing terms ofemployment, settlements, agreements and awards remaining invogue and that they shall continue to remain covered by labourlaws including I D Act.

The Order of the High Court established the validity of FMRAIsdemands. Indian and foreign pharma companies will definitelytake due note of the Order of Punjab and Haryana High Court incase of Sun Pharma Ranbaxy merger.

Significance of High Court Orderon Sun Pharma-Ranbaxy Merger

converting them as sales officers after 12months on the plea that the service conditionswere more beneficial.

On this, Sun Pharmas oral submission, asnoted in the Order, assured that applicability ofclause 13(b) is within the frame-work of Section19 of I. D. Act and only relates to wages. TheHigh Court Order states, Though in clause 13(a)and (b) of the Scheme of Arrangement, theinterests of the employees of the TransferorCompany has been fully taken care of, but stillto clarify the issue fur ther affidavit dated11.2.2015 of Askok I. Bhutta, authorized personof Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited hasbeen filed undertaking etc.

Undertaking of Sun Pharma, quoted in theOrder, states, any variation (increase ordecrease) in the base salary or base wage rateof Transferred Employees after the relevantperiod (12 months) will be in accordance withthe terms of employment, and subject alwaysto all the extant (existing) laws including labour

laws in this regard.Two further significant developments have

taken place since the Order of the High Court.In their official communication, Sun Pharma

informed all Ranbaxy SPEs individually, includingthose differently called sales officers, thateffective 25th March, 2015, Ranbaxy has mergedwith Sun Pharma and there is no legal entity ofRanbaxy thereafter; and, consequently, theyhave become Sun Pharma employees with fullcontinuity of service and without any break orinterruption in service. There is no provision ofeither job transfer or acceptance as if it was anoffer, as was observed in some other companiesin case of merger. This is uninterrupted andcontinued job from Ranbaxy to Sun Pharma asper provision of I. D. Act which FMRAI has beenasking for.

The second development is that a meetingof previously constituted CGC for the SPEs hastaken place on 27 March, after they have allbecome Sun pharma employees on 25 March.

Ranbaxy - Sun Pharma Mergerfrom page-1

management at Chandigarhby PCMSRU, HPMRA andJ&KMRA; at Pune andMumbai by MSMRA; at Raipurby MPMSRU and atAhmedabad by GSMRA.

In the existing bilateralindustrial relationship for morethan thirty years, disputes anddifferences did arise but couldbe resolved through dialogue anddiscussion. But this time, it wasmanagement who is responsiblein compelling the field workersto go for strike. During thependency of three transferissues management resorted tofurther punitive transfers of onefield worker from Agra toSriganganagar, the existing fieldworker of Sriganganagar toVaranasi who remainedvictimized for years and whoseissue was just concluded andanother field worker from Anugulto Bihar Shariff.

Respecting three decadesold bilateral relationship andwithout getting provoked onmanagements action, FMRAIwrote to the Company on 3March requesting not toprecipitate any issue further inview of impending discussion inthe pre-fixed CoordinationCommittee (CC) meetingschedule to take place during 5-6 May. But, ignoring FMRAIsletter and despite the issueswere discussed in the past andkept pending for discussion inthe 5-6 May CC meeting,management, at this juncture,further resorted to freshtermination of two out of threeearlier transferred field workers.It was managementshighhanded actions which are tobe blamed.

Dialogue, discussion andmutual accommodation are themainstay in bilateral industrialrelationship. Based on thisunderstanding, FMRAI furtherwrote on 20 March to themanagement for discussion andresolution of all pending issuesin the CC meeting of 5-6 May.

Wallace Strikefrom page-1

days programmes successful and for this FMRAIs secretariatcongratulated the USV field workers.

FMRAIs general secretary Aloke Banerjee, joint generalsecretaries Dipak Bhattacharjee and K B Kadam greeted andaddressed the USV field workers. A presidium consisting of allIndia convener T Kameswar Rao, joint all India convener DebatoshChakrabarti and other committee member of all India USV councilpresided.

In the evening of the first day, all India USV council meetingwas held, reviewed the programme and adopted a resolution whichwas submitted on the second day of dharna.

At the instance of the management, local administrationdeployed police who created hurdles for the dharna participantsincluding that of submission of resolution. But considering theagitating mood of the workers, management personnel with thehelp of police came down the dharna place, received the resolutionand informed that they would respond on the contents of theresolution. Second day dharna was addressed ny FMRAI presidentand former USV all India convener, R. Viswanathan, USV all Indiaconvener, T. K. Rao and T V Sridhar, FMRAIs working committeemember.

In the second day of the dharna, a delegation of USV councilleadership met the Maharashtra labor commissioner , H. K. Jawaleand explained the unfair labour practices resorted to by theCompany and handed over a memorandum. Later, all the relateddocuments were submitted as sought for.

To circumvent their trade union rights, USV managementresorted to various actions which left imprint of lawlessness,unfair labour practice and violation of rules of natural justice.Management resorted to change in service conditions withoutissuing notice, in violation of Section 9A of ID Act and during thependency of two charter of demands in the industrial tribunal foradjudication. Further, management illegally imposed mobilereporting on the field workers, resorted to coercion and intimidationfor its implementation and resorted to cuts in wages and expenseson that count. The management even ignored the direction ofMaharashtra labour department for constitution of grievanceredressal system under Section 9C of ID Act for the field workers.Resorting to punitive and disciplinary actions on sales ground inviolation of Section 2(j)ii(b) of the I D Act; pay for prescriptionand pay for trade; recruiting sales promotion employees undercontractors in gross violation of Contract Labour (Regulation andAbolition) Act, 1970 etc. are the other features of the contraventionof law by the Company.

In pursuance of their justified demands, following their headoffice dharna, all India USV council meeting decided futureagitational and legal course which include relay strike, to file writagainst violation of Section 9A, vigorous persuasion on pendingcharter of demands etc.

from page-1 USV Dharna

International WomensDay Observed

FMRAIs state units across the country observed the InternationalWomens Day on 8 March, independently and jointly with other womenorganisations demanding six months maternity leave, constitutionof committee of women field workers for their grievances redressed,stringent punishment against sexual harassments, equal pay forequal work, establishing crches in all headquarter towns by theindustry, immediate legislation and implementation of Womens Bill,implementation of eight hours work etc.

As per the call of FMRAIs Jalgaon GCM, rallies, hall meetings,conventions etc. were organized. KMSRAs Thrissur districtorganized a seminar at district collectorate office. Dr. (Prof) SheelaViswanath, state committee member of Purogamana Kala SahityaSangham was the main speaker. Others who spoke includewomen subcommittee convener Susmitha Santhosh, ReshmiPrakash and KMSRAs Thrissur district secretary Anuroop Raja.Mini Suresh presided. Other KMSRA units namely Kasaragod,Kojhikode, Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Malapuram alsoobserved and in all 118 members participated.

BSSR Unions Ranchi unit organized a hall meeting on 9March, addressed by Renu Prakash. BSSRUs president, AnirbanBose greeted and explained FMRAIs12 point demands for them.In Kolkata, WBMSRU organized a hall meeting on 7 March whichwas attended by 44 women field workers. Prof. MaliniBhattacharya, former M.P. was the main speaker. Others whospoke include WBMSRUs vice president and its womensubcommittee convener Arpita Mitra Roy, FMRAIs secretarySantanu Chatterjee and WBMSRUs general secretary SumahanChakraborty. A presidium, consisting of Tinka Majhi, TandrimaNandy and Sharmistha Saha conducted the proceedings. Similarhall meeting was also held at Siliguri.

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of council movement; membership and other areas. Acolourful two wheeler rally was taken out which movedaround seven kilometers of major areas of the townshouting slogans. Reports placed by unit secretaryDiwakar Pandey and treasurer Ravinder Pandey werediscussed by the par ticipants and were adoptedunanimously. The meeting was presided by Binay Prasad.

from page-4

WBMSRU69 members of WBMSRUs Kolkata Medical College

base committee attended their annual general bodymeeting on 17 February which was inaugurated by its

district secretariat member Arijit Dey. Report placed bythe base committee convener Puspen Chatterjee,discussed by 7 participants and was adopted. WBMSRUsgeneral secretary Sumahan Chakraborty concluded.

81 members of Durgapur local committee attendedtheir annual general body meeting on 10 March.Secretarys report placed by Sudip Banerjee wasdiscussed by 7 participants and was adopted. WBMSRUleader Kaushik Banerjee concluded the meeting. SujitMisra presided. 92 members of Asansol localcommittee-1 attended their annual general body meetingon 12 March. Local committee secretary Shantonu Bankplaced his report which was adopted following discussionby 5 participants. The meeting was presided by SubrataPaul. On 11 March, the annual general body meeting ofAsansol local committee-2 was attended by 65members. 5 participants discussed on the report whichwas placed by local secretary Pranab Gupta and wasadopted. The meeting was presided by Sanjoy Sanyal.20 members of newly formed Kulti local committeeattended their first annual general body meeting on 3March. 3 participants discussed on the report. WBMSRUsstate committee member Debotosh Chakrobortyconcluded the meeting.

Under the Darjeeling district committee; there are fiveLocal Committees (LC) which are named as East, West,North, South and South-East. Here is the brief report of AGBmeetings of these LCs.

62 members of LC-South attended their annualgeneral body meeting on 1 March. Amit Sankar Ray, localsecretary and Ujjal Das, treasurer placed their reportswhich were adopted following discussions by 9participants. WBMSRU state committee members AshimSaha and Santanu Ray addressed. A presidiumconsisting of Dipak Dey, Tapash Sengupta and ManotoshDutta conducted the proceedings.

On 15 March, four other local committees organizedtheir annual general body meetings. The meeting of LC-East, held at Comrade Mohan Adhikari Mancha ofComrade Ananda Pathak Nagar, was attended by 58members. Reports, placed by Dwaipayan Mojumder, localsecretary and Goutam Modak, treasurer were adoptedfollowing discussions by 7 participants. WBMSRU statecommittee member Santanu Mitra concluded the meeting.Gautam Ganguly and Satyajit Ghosh Roy conducted theproceedings. 63 members attended the meeting of LC-West. Reports placed by local secretary Sanjib Ghoshand treasurer Subhendu Ghosh were adopted followingdiscussions by 10 participants. Subrata Bhattacharjee,district committee treasure concluded the meeting.

58 members attended LC-South-East meeting.Reports placed by local secretary Ashutosh Majumderand , treasurer Tuhin Bannerjee were adopted. WBMSRUleader Ujjal Moitra concluded the meeting. The meetingof LC-North was attended by 58 members. Reports placedby Atanu Paul, local secretary and Sangram Lal Mallik,treasurer were discussed and adopted. WBMSRU statecommittee member Asesh Bannerjee concluded themeeting.

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Despite FSA being a creation of the managementin 1994 to break German Remedies field workers unityunder FMRAI, it being the sole bargaining forum forthem since 1977; FMRAI never objected tomanagement holding simultaneous negotiation,common conclusion and then signing separate butidentical settlements with both - FMRAI and the FSA.But, this time it is different. Management helddiscussion and signed a settlement with the FSA on19 March, 2015 with a definite purpose bypassingsimultaneous negotiation with FMRAIs negotiatingcommittee for arriving at a common conclusion.

The purpose is glaring. This time managementwanted something new, for the first time during last37 years of bilateral industrial relation in the companyand in the industry. This they wanted to manage throughFSA settlement i.e. converting entire serviceconditions of the sales promotion employees frompermanent to performance-related, and convertingthem from time-rated to piece-rated workers and madethese as part of job contract of GRL field workers.

Clause 13 of the FSA settlement says, TheMemorandum of Understanding which is annexed tothis Settlement as Annexure 2 and the contentsthereof will constitute part and parcel of thisSettlement as if the same are specifically reproducedin this Settlement.

Clause 14 of the FSA settlement states, Theparties agree that this Settlement has been arrivedat as a package deal and for no purpose, it will betreated, implemented, understood or interpreted inpiece meal manner. (Underline added for emphasis).

The manner in which a settlement with only oneunion was signed in total departure from the past;attempt to impose it on all field workers of thecompany irrespective of being FSA members, asprovided in the settlement, and imposing jobspecification outside the model standing order as partof the settlement are illegal and patently unfair labourpractice under MRTU & PULP Act. FMRAI kept itsoption open to legally challenge the settlement on allcounts.

By signing this settlement, a GRL field workeraccepts (i) his job be treated as result oriented; (ii) toprepare the tour programme to cover Doctors as perstrategy and (iii) shall not deviate from the tourprogramme without prior approval; (iv) to meetminimum 175 listed doctors in a month; (v) to maintainmonthly 10.5 average doctors call from the listeddoctors; (vi) monthly average 5 chemists call and(vii) ensuring product availability in that area; (viii)quarterly submit Business Expectation from ex-

GRL-FSA Settlement(?)%&'

115 out of total 118 Unichemfield workers of all divisions inWest Bengal took casual leave enmasse and 86 of them sat in adharna in front of the companyestablishment on 16 March, asnotified by WBMSRU. In supportof the Unichem field workers, agate meeting was held which was addressed byWBMSRUs vice president Biswajit Ghosh;secretaries Basab Roychowdhury and ShubrangshuBhattacharyya and FMRAIs working committeemember Arpita Mitra Roy. FMRAI also called uponits state units to resort to solidarity action on thatday in support of West Bengal field workers.

Unichem management has been resorting to unfairlabour practices, terminated one field worker, grosslyviolating all legal provisions including that of SalesPromotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act and

stations and outstations; (ix) after 7 days DCRs, from8th day lockout on his work; (x) entry of secondarysales; (xi) after half day CAMP, half day field work;(xii) independent work of the manager in his territory;(xiii) in case of future legal coverage like ESI etcdeduction from his wage in place of managementscontribution; (xiv) his responsibility of improvingCompanys image (cannot raise slogan, cannotdemonstrate and cannot resort to strike); (xv)commitment to sales objective of the Company. Inaddition, he is accepting all other existing work normsas part of the settlement and of service contract.

The above 15 pieces and more form the core ofwork responsibility in service conditions delinkingfrom any time quantum; and wages and other financialbenefits have been revised in the settlement on thatbasis. Under Section 18(1) of I D Act it applicableonly to the signatories of the settlement. But it willbe binding on a GRL field worker only when he signshis acceptance.

After accepting and signing a GRL field workerwill become a party of such a retrograde settlement.The company will be free to resort to wage cuts,suspend, terminate his service or otherwise punishin case of one or more breach of the above mentioned(xv) terms of MOU now becoming part of employmentcontract. Further, Section 29 of the Industrial DisputesAct, 1947 states, Any person who commits a breachof any term of any settlement or a award, which isbinding on him under this Act, shall be punishablewith imprisonment for a term which may extend tosix months, or with fine etc.

Generally a worker work for 8 hours with breaksand gets remuneration and improvement of serviceconditions on that basis. MOU on day to day work isa guideline as work inputs with all variable factorsoutside the control of the field workers. FMRAI isfighting for 8-hours work notification which severalstate governments notified. FMRAI is also fightingfor statutory working rules replacing the arbitrary andunilateral working conditions being imposed on thefield workers. As a part of bilateralism FMRAI acceptsminutes of the grievance committee meetings / MOUon some day to day work as just understanding outsidethe legal framework.

It is in this background, FMRAI called upon allGRL field workers particularly those who are FSAmembers to reject this settlement. FMRAI alsoalerted all its councils in particular and the fieldworkers in general to take note of this developmentin the industry which is extremely derogatory to fieldworkers council movement.

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Rules, 1976; resorting to threat,coercion and humiliations includingthe women SPEs against whichfield workers of West Bengal havebeen protesting. All conciliatoryapproach of WBMSRU forresolution of the issues did not yieldany positive result due to adamant

attitude of the management.Circumvention of law by the management is going

on unabated. It is learnt that following the dharnaprogramme on 16 March, management issued showcause notices to all SPEs for their dharnaparticipation. Against this individual show cause forlegitimate participation in notified collective industrialaction, WBMSRU lodged a dispute in the labourdepartment and a demand letter was sent to themanagement demanding immediate withdrawal of theshow cause notices to avoid further industrial unrest.

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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/106/2013-2015

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Resolving unanimously tooppose the anti labour policiesof the central and stategovernments; to fight againstvictimizations, to upholdcommunal harmony and tostrengthen the united workingclass movement in the state ofAndhra Pradesh, the 35thgeneral conference ofAPMSRU, attended by 310elected delegates from all its 18sub units, was held atAnantapur during 6-8 March.CITUs secretary Dr. KHemalatha inaugurated theconference.

Dr. B Ram Mohan, chairman,reception committee welcomedthe delegates. The inauguralsession was addressed by J C

APMSRU Conference

Diwakar Reddy, M.P.; CITUsAndhra Pradesh state generalsecretary M A Gafoor andleading functionaries from IMAand other fraternalorganizations. On the day, acolourful rally was taken outwhich marched through themajor thoroughfare of the townand was culminated in a publicmeeting. The meeting wasaddressed by addressed by AG Rajamohan, Dr. K Hemalatha,M A Gafoor and G Obulu andwas presided by P R K Reddy.

Reports placed by thegeneral secretary and treasurerwere unanimously adoptedfollowing discussion by 35participants. On the second day,a convention was organized on

the topic Healthy (?) India whichwas addressed by FMRAIspresident R Viswanathan, Dr.Veerabadraiah and Dr. DesamSreenivas. The conventionadopted a resolution demandinguniversal health programme tobenefit all Indians and the samewas sent to the President andthe Prime Minister of India. Thegeneral conference wasconcluded by FMRAIs presidentR Viswanathan.

The conference elected 23member state workingcommittee with P S SekharReddy as president, A GRajamohan as general secretaryand D Prasad as treasurer.

Prior to the conference, apublic signature collectionprogramme was conducted onhealth and medicine relateddemands, which wasinaugurated by Dr. B RamMohan on 3 February. Thebanner, on which publicsignature was collected wassent to the President of India.On 11 February, a human chainprogramme was organizeddemanding save Anantapurfrom becoming desert.

227 general councilmembers including 5 womenfrom 27 units participated in theGeneral Council Meeting (GCM)of Maharashtra Sales andMedical RepresentativesAssociation (MSMRA) heldduring 22 23 March at Jalna.The GCM venue was named inmemory of veteran CITU leaderas Comrade K L Bajaj Nagarand the Manch was dedicatedin memory of Comrade GovindPansare, noted social activistwho was killed by thefundamentalist forces. TheGCM decided futuremovemental plan throughadoption of resolutions againstmultinational aggression inpharmaceutical industry andCentral governmentssurrendering policy; againstunfair labour practices resortedto by Elder-Torrent, Alembic,Svizera and Panaceamanagements and againstbrutal killing of Govind Pansare.

Following hoisting ofMSMRA flag by president D MDeshpande, the GCM wasformally inaugurated by CITUsJalna district secretary AnnaSawant. During his deliberation,he dealt the present socio-political issues and urged theMSMRAI members to build

MSMRA GCM

movement and organizationcommensurate with the need ofthe hour. Reception committeechairman Dr Rajiv Jethlia,doctor by profession, welcomedthe general council members.Others who were present andgreeted the GCM include NIMAsecretary Sanjay Ruikhedkar; DrV Y Kulkani, HIMPA secretary;AITUC secretary Dighe;MSCDA president SanjayBobde, secretary Sainath Pawarand treasurer RameshwarChautkar. FMRAIs joint generalsecretary K B Kadam alsogreeted the participants on thisoccasion. During his deliberation,he dealt mainly variousmovemental currents of FMRAI.A colourful rally covering around4 kilometer of the city was takenout on the first day.

In the plenary session, 41general council members and19 state council conveners

critically analysed, placed theirviews and suggestions on thereports of general secretary andtreasurer, placed by NarendraSingh and Ritesh Shahrespectively. Besides, entiregeneral council members weregrouped in 4 commissions policy related, council related,state related and onorganization, discussed specificarea and placed their views andsuggestions. After discussionboth the reports were thenadopted unanimously.

FMRAIs secretary SanjayChatterjee in his deliberationappreciated the role of MSMRAin carrying forward FMRAIsmovement, dealt Centralgovernments anti peoplepolicies and its impact on theworkers and people and urgedto build up a strong centre atMumbai to face the newerchallenges.

AGB MeetingsUPMSRA

114 members of Gorakhpur unit attended their annual generalbody meeting on 15 February. UPMSRAs president Rakesh

Srivastava hoisted the flag. Reports placed by the unit secretaryand treasurer were discussed and adopted. A 19 member executivecommittee was elected with Anand Pandey as president, SanjoyKumar Dey as secretary and Soumitra Mukherjee as treasurer.

On the day, FMRAIs secretary R P Singh handed over a chequeof Rs. 1 Lac to the family members of Comrade Anurag Chaturvedi,a member of the unit who died in a road accident. The said amountwas contributed by the members of Gorakhpur unit.

BSSRUAnnual meeting of Samastipur unit, held on 22 March, was

attended by 92 members. BSSRUs secretary Sanjay Kumar

inaugurated. IMAs Bihar state vice president Dr. D S Singh andleaders from other fraternal organizations and trade unions greetedthe participants. Following discussions by 15 participants, thereports placed by unit secretary Partho Sinha and treasurerDharmendra K Singh, were adopted unanimously. BSSRUsgeneral secretary Debashis Roy concluded the meeting.

On 22 March, Bhagalpur unit organized its annual unitmeeting which was inaugurated by CITUs district co-coordinator

Dashrath Prasad and was attended by 86 members. On the eveof the meeting, a massive rally was taken out which wasculminated in a street corner meeting near medicine wholesalemarket. The reports placed by unit secretary Subhajit Senguptaand treasurer K K Jha were adopted unanimously after discussionby 9 participants. BSSRUs president Anirban Bose concludedthe meeting explaining the tactical line of the organization and itsmovements; burning problems of the sales promotion employeesand medicine related issues. Sunil Kumar conducted theproceedings.

60 members of Daltonganj unit attended their annual meetingon 15 March which was inaugurated by BSSRUs generalsecretary Debasish Roy. He informed about the present politicalsituation and how to deal with it; emphasized upon the importance

See page-3