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

The ITC-SPEs wasconstituted in January, 2014after decades long struggle,including strike, by FMRAI andconsequent to two nationaltr ipar tite meetings as aconsultative forum forimplementation, amendmentsand expansion of labour lawsapplicable to the salespromotion employees.Immediately after Modigovernment came to power atthe Centre in May, theyselectively dissolved the ITC-SPEs in July.

FMRAI alone pursued theconstitution of the ITC-SPEs inthe background of thousandsof victimization of the medicaland sales representatives;rampant violation of labourlaws, which are applicable tothe medical and salesrepresentatives; litigations,agitations and seriousdisharmony in the vitalpharmaceutical industry.

Again, only FMRAIlaunched immediate country-wide agitation beginning with 5-August Protest Day demanding

Industrial Tripartite Committee for SPEs Restored

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restoration of ITC-SPEs. Onthat day, 20,000 medical andsales representative were onthe streets in 290 cities andtowns in almost all states andunion territories in India stagingdemonstrations, bringing outstreet processions, rallies, two-wheeler rallies, burning effigies,holding public meetings,staging dharna, and submittingmemoranda to the Lok SabhaSpeaker through district / localadministration. The protestmovement was joined and themeetings were addressed byleaders of CITU, local tradeunions and of other massorganizations.

Subsequently, the medicaland sales representativesobserved country-wideDemands Day on 5 October bywearing demand badge.FMRAI notified theGovernment to stage dharna infront of the Parliament inNovember and strike inDecember.

Opposing dissolution,demanding restoration andholding of regular meetings of

ITC-SPEs, CITU wrote to theUnion Labour Minster. FMRAIwrote to the Speaker of the LokSabha seeking her urgentintervention for restoration ofthe Tripartite Committee.

This is a big achievementfor the field workers movementand for FMRAI, as a nationalfederation, when the CentralGovernment has been movingin an authoritarian manner,doing away with / ignoring allbi-par tite / tr i-par titeconsultations and going aheadwith anti-workers labourreforms and inculcating labourflexibility in labour marketfavouring corporate as theirpolicy trajectory in this phaseof neo-liberalism.

However, FMRAI calledupon the field workers of thecountry and its organizations atvarious levels to remain vigilantas the attacks on the medicaland sales representatives havebeen intensified; drug policy isbeing suited for the MNCs; andthere is general attack on thedomestic pharma industry. (seeeditorial)

275 elected delegates instate council meetings,representing 800 plus Ranbaxyfield workers from all over thecountry, except from NorthEast, Delhi, J&K and HimachalPradesh; participated in their 3rdAll India Council Conference atChennai during 13-14 October,2014.

FMRAI president R.

See page-2

FMRAI in a statement on 27 September condemned Modigovernments order of 22 September withdrawing the 10 Julynotification of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA).

DPCO, 2013 brought 348 items of NLEM under price controlkeeping many items outside its purview. NPPA by its 10 Julynotification brought price cap on 108 formulations which areoutside DPCO, 2013 as empowered by para 19 of DPCO, 2013 tofix the prices of any drug in extraordinary circumstances, if itconsiders necessary to do so in public interest and based oninternal guidelines of 29 May in respect of fixing prices of certainscheduled / non-scheduled drugs.

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See page-2

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NOVEMBER 2014

Despite changes in Indian Patents Act in 2005 to comply withthe WTO norms for Intellectual Property Rights as a whole, includingpharmaceutical patenting, under tremendous pressure frommultinational-led drug lobbies, Narendra Modi, during his recentvisit to US, agreed to constitute a high-level bilateral working groupwith US to review Indias compliance on intellectual property area.The joint statement issued by both the countries following ModisUS visit in September says, .the leaders committed to establishan annual high-level Intellectual Property (IP) Working Group withappropriate decision-making and technical-level meetings as partof the Trade Policy Forum.

Was it necessary to constitute a committee to discuss IndiasIP policy with the US? Was there any complaint against India forviolation of WTO agreement? The most dangerous portion of thejoint statement was empowerment of this working group to havedecision making power, meaning thereby that there would be nodiscussion in the Indian Parliament. This is a naked attack on thesovereignty and democratic institution of the country. Modigovernment has completely surrendered before the pressure tacticsof US administration following the footsteps of UPA.

The intense pressure on India by US drug companies is notnew. Ever since Supreme Courts refusal to Swiss pharma companyNovartis patent application for its cancer drug Glivec last year, thepressure increased manifold. Further, German pharma giant, Bayer,was very critical of the Indian government when it allowed Indiancompany Natco at the beginning of this year to produce Sorafenibfor treatment of liver and kidney cancer at less than one-30th ofBayers Nexavar. The Bayer CEO made the atrocious statement thatthe company designed the medicine for western patients who canafford it not for the Indian market!

It is at this juncture, the appointment of Arvind Subramanian,an ardent proponent of dilution of Section 3(d) of Patent law, asthe Chief Economic Adviser of Modi Government is very disturbing.As recently as March of this year, Arvind Subramanian advocatedfor US to initiate WTO dispute against India if the later did notaddress the problems created by Section 3(d) of Indian Patent Act.

With the shrinkage of markets in advanced capitalist economiesfollowing world economic crisis and withdrawal of subsidies by thegovernments as austerity drive; the multinational drug companiesof those countries became desperate and were eyeing markets likeIndia for their super profit. But they found difficulties due to thepresence of strong Indian pharma companies with their brandsand strong marketing network through medical and salesrepresentatives as challenge to monopolized and costly patentedmedicines of drug MNCs; strong IP policy; and price controlmechanism. As such they created pressure to dilute all.

Concerted attack was unleashed on Indian drug companiesand their export of medicines by creating non-tariff barrier by USAon the export of India-made medicines to protect their domesticmarket for companies of US origin; and attacks on the medical andsales representatives and creating barriers in their work to destroythe strong pharma competitive marketing network in India. Earlier,the UPA government allowed US FDA to open its offices in NewDelhi and in Mumbai with country director, drug inspectors,technicians and others personnel who could undertake regularinspections in hospitals on clinical trials; drug production units inIndia; and even imported products in India!

Multinational drug lobby mounted pressure on the Indiangovernment on drug pricing area too. Despite the high price ofmedicines, Central government in a phases diluted the price controlmechanism, the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) under pressurefrom drug lobby. Through DPCO, 2013, the Central government leftthe price determination to the market. Despite of this, on 22September Modi government withdrew 10 July order of NPPAbringing 108 formulations under price caps.

Against these pro-multinational policies of Modi government,there is urgent need of developing powerful democratic and tradeunion movement in which field workers will have their humblecontribution in safeguarding countrys sovereignty, self-relianceand interests of common people.

Resist Dilution of Patent LawSave Sovereignty, Self-Reliance,

Peoples Interest

This withdrawal is an abjectsurrender before drug MNCsand a gift from Narendra Modito Obama administration justbefore his departure for US andpreparing ground for Modi-Obama declaration on settingup working group to reviewIndias compliance onintellectual property rights ofUS drug companies. (seeeditorial)

This withdrawal is furthercondemnable as the wholeissue is pending before Delhiand Mumbai High Courts on thewrits filed by drug companiespowerful associations - OPPIand IDMA - representing themultinational domestic phama

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DPCO-2013 could not bringdown medicine prices despitetall claims of the governmentas it removed completelyearlier cost-based price controlmechanism and fixed drugprices by the market prices ofthe medicines which are listedin the National List of EssentialDrugs (NLEM). The price isfixed just by calculating theaverage of selling prices in themarket of those products whichare having more than 1%market share. The job of theNational PharmaceuticalPricing Authority (NPPA)remains only in collecting dataof market prices of these

medicines and calculating theiraverage. All other medicines,including many essential drugsand patented medicines, haveno price control at all and thedrug companies are free toincrease their prices at will.

Against high price ofmedicines and in the interestof common people, FMRAI hasbeen pursuing the demands ofcost-based drug price controlin DPCO; price cap on all drugs;reverting back from MRP-based to cost-based exciseduty calculation; and no tax onall essential medicines. Theseare of paramount importance inthe interests of poor ailingpeople of the country.

from page-1

Viswanathan inaugurated theconference. FMRAI generalsecretary Alok Banerjee in hisaddressed highlighted thesignificant advances made byRanbaxy field workers throughsigning nine successivesettlements and significantachievements in records on dayto day work; newer attacks onthe achievements of FMRAIscouncil movement at this stageof neo-liberalism and urgedthem to remain vigilant indefending the gains achieved.

Those who greeted theconference include All Indiacouncil conveners - F. J.Jerome of Biochem, R N Tiwariof Albert David, H. Sriram ofJohnson & Johnson, R. RameshSunder of BSN and TNMSRAgeneral secretary PrabhakarDevadoss, its presidentGopinath and former vicepresident of FMRAI S Sukumar.

21 delegates participated inthe discussion on the reportplaced by all India Convener,shared their experiences andmade valuable contributions.After reply, the report wasunanimously adopted.

The conference was held inthe backdrop of ongoingintegration process of the two

companies following takingover of Ranbaxy by SunPharmaceuticals. Theconference adopted aresolution raising specificdemands before themanagement as par t ofintegration process whichinclude, That, the jobs of all field

workers of all divisions bywhatever name they arecalled be transferred to theproposed integratedcompany under theprovisions of IndustrialDisputes Act, 1947;

That, after job transfer tothe integrated company,continuation of the CGCand RGCs and presentcollective bargainingforum under the union forall field workers, whosejobs are transferred in theintegrated company;

That, management of theintegrated company mustcontinue to adhere to allthe records of decisionsand understandings signedwith the accreditedcommittees including onminimum total number ofMSRs; on threeresponsibilities in low / de-

growth territories; and onelectronic reportingsystem; and

That, the above demandsshould form par t ofproposals by themanagement in theHonble Punjab & HaryanaHigh Court and GujaratHigh Court for approval ofmerger.

The resolution called upon theRanbaxy field workers to remainprepared for any eventuality.

By another resolution theconference called uponRanbaxy field workers to takeurgent organizational initiativesfor integration of Ranbaxy councilexpanding to all other divisions;to create integrated councilstructures in districts; and to buildcoordination with Sun Pharmacouncil.

A presidium consisting ofRanbaxy Joint All IndiaConvener Sanjeev Khandelwaland four zonal convenersconducted the proceedings of theconference.

In a special function duringthe conference, 5 seniorRanbaxy field workers, nearingsuper-annuation, werefelicitated. A documentary filmon FMRAI titled tale ofstruggle was screened and amusical programme was alsoarranged on this occasion.

from page-1

In a significant judgment on 10 September,the division bench of the High Court at Calcuttacomprising of justices Jyotirmoy Bhattacharyaand Tapas Mookherjee quashed the writ petitionfiled by SHPL management against the singlebench order and directed the management topay the balance amount of Rs. 2,53,081 to thecompanys sales promotion employee BimalGanguly within one month from the date of thedivision bench order; together with a simpleinterest @ 10% per annum from the date of filingof the proceeding under Section 33-C(2) of the ID Act till the date of actual payment.

Bimal Ganguly, a sales promotion employeeof SHPL, was issued termination from his jobwith effect from 17 April, 2003. WBMSRU filedan industrial dispute before the Third Industrial

Tribunal, West Bengal which directed themanagement to reinstate Bimal Ganguly with fullback wages and other consequential benefits towhich the management did not comply with.Subsequently, a case was filed before the LabourCourt against managements inaction. The LabourCourt ordered that the concerned sales promotionemployee was entitled to get Rs.3346 per monthfor the period of 44 months between 2003 to 2006with variable dearness allowance and bonus for8 months. The management filed a writ petitionbefore the single bench of the High Court atCalcutta challenging the said order. However, thesingle bench judge upheld the order of the LabourCourt against which the management furthercontested before the division bench which gaveorder on 10 September in favour of Bimal.

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A bilateral understanding was reached on 20September in Mumbai between the managementof Elder and FMRAIs Welfare Committee resolving73 mass transfer cases of the field workers,payment of due salaries and expenses and on re-opening of their web portal for reporting.

73 out of total 106 transfer issues could beresolved, based on existing realities, by retaining55 field workers at their respective headquarters;with placement of other 16 transferred field workerswithin their respective states and placement oftwo field workers in adjacent states.

The period from the date of transfer to the dateof joining of these 73 field workers would be treatedas on leave. On joining duty as per understandingmanagement would open their portal and paywages.

However, 33 transfer issues remainedunresolved. Letter was sent to the company toimmediately reopen discussion on these transferissues also. FMRAI asked these affected fieldworkers to maintain status quo as far as theirtransfers are concerned. The Welfare Committeehas been pursuing the same. However,management refused to reopen separatediscussion on these transfers as communicatedby them through e-mail on 20 October.

FMRAIs working committee meeting at Jaipuron 23-24 August took stock of the situation,assessed the movemental perspective, legaldevelopments and decided future actionprogramme. The assessment revealed that in orderto subvert the movement, Elder managementresorted to mass transfer of field workers and onrefusal of joining, management would resort to non-payment of salary and other dues. AccordinglyFMRAI raised six specific demands on 1September and notified the management of Elderfor future industrial actions including March toMumbai in November.

However, March to Mumbai was postponed inview of resolution of 73 transfer issues andnormalizing their work. Future movement on 33transfer issues will be decided by FMRAI shortlyin the context of refusal of the management toreconsider these transfer issues.

But, what was the central issue in Elder-Torrentmovement? FMRAI was forced to launch

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movement as both the companies resorted tounfair labour practices and flouted laws of the landwith the objective of end of trade union in both thecompanies. Following Elder Pharmaceuticalsselling and transferring of two marketing divisionsto Torrent against payment of Rs.2004 crores, theundated joint letter, issued by both themanagements, attempted to usurp the legal rightsof the field workers on job continuation in case oftransfer of establishments by means of unfair labourpractice in violation of signed memorandum ofunderstanding.

The joint letter violates the provision of Section25FF(a) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 whichclearly states that, the service of the workmanhas not been interrupted by such transfer of theestablishments. Which means the service of theworkman remains uninterrupted? There is no scopeof offer by the new owner and acceptance by theworkman. There is no scope of selection by themanagements to offer of job. Further, the joint letterviolates the conditions of negotiated settlementunder I. D. Act from collectively bargained serviceconditions to individual service conditions.

This is a conspiracy of Elder-Torrentmanagements to end the unions rights andestablished unions for a for wage negotiation andgrievance settlement forum.

In this era of neo-liberalism, when acquisitionsand mergers are taking place in rapid space withgovernments policy of encouraging 100% FDI,there is concerted attacks on the collectivebargaining, trade union and legal rights which thefield workers achieved through many struggles andsacrifices. The refusal of Elder-Torrentmanagements to job-continuation of all fieldworkers was not the simple question of numbers;but has the clear agenda of ending all councilmovements achievements in Elder.

Out of its movemental experiences, thesecretariat of FMRAI in its meeting held atBhubaneswar in May this year, viewed thedevelopments and came to the conclusion that itwas not a Elder-Torrent specific problem but aconcerted attack on the security of jobs, of tradeunion rights and of the bilaterally settled serviceand working conditions of the field workers; anddecided to oppose the same collectively.

In pursuance of their demands for immediate withdrawal ofthree transfer orders; against managements violation ofmemorandum of understanding on day to day work; against unfairlabour practices by the management including resorting to threat,coercion and humiliation; and revitalizing council organization;190 Wallace field workers of east, north and south zones met inthe zonal conventions on 19 and 26 October. The conventionsunanimously adopted resolutions against victimizations andmanagements unfair labour practices. West zone convention willbe held on 2 November.

.

The east zone convention, held at Kolkata on19 October wasinaugurated by FMRAIs general secretary Aloke Kumar Banerjee.Wallace field workers from West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhandand North East region participated. The background note wasdiscussed by the participants. FMRAIs treasurer Partha Rakshitand others addressed. Sanjay Chatterjee, secretary, FMRAI presided.

The north zone convention was held on 26 October in Delhi.Joint all India convener Biswajit Deb addressed the participants.Companys field workers from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand,Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan participated in thediscussion. Others who addressed include Partha Roy, A G Johriand Rajeev Walia. FMRAIs working committee member SanjayNarang presided. The south zone convention was held at Chennaion 26 October and was attended by the field workers from AndhraPradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. FMRAIs presidentR Viswanathan inaugurated. Saleem Patel, all India convenerelaborated the developments inside the company. TNMSRAs vicepresident Ramesh Sundar and others addressed. FMRAIssecretary T. Kameswar Rao presided.

The Wallace AIC meeting scheduled to be held at Bhopal on15 November will further assess the situation and decide futurecourse. FMRAIs secretariat while congratulating the Wallace fieldworkers for their participation in the zonal conventions despitedifficulties of the festive seasons, urged upon them to remainvigilant to protect their trade union and collective bargaining rights.

FMRAI general secretary A. K. Banerjee addressing at Kolkata

After three and half years,normalcy has been restored on thefield work of Paresh Kumar Nayak,a field worker of Crosslands basedat Berhampur, Odisha. On 29August, the concern HRDexecutive and ABM called PareshNayak at Cuttack, advised him toresume fieldwork at Berhampur inCrosslands-II and assured torelease all his pending duestowards salary and expenseswithin a month.

Since his joining in Crosslandsin November, 2010 strainedrelationship between him andmanagement developed,management called him at Mumbaitwice and tried to extract his

resignation, Nayak filed FIRagainst management etc. Inprotest, entire Crosslands Odishafield workers resorted to lightningstrike on 10 June, 2011.Subsequently, managementinstituted domestic enquiry againsthim on false charges and filed FIRagainst the leading functionariesof OSRUs Berhampur unit againstwhich OSRU launched movementthroughout Odisha.

In the meantime, the companyhad restructured the marketingdivisions as Crosslands-II andCrosslands Life in October, 2013keeping Nayak outside withoutabsorbing him in either division.As a result, he was unable to

submit work reports and not gettinghis salary and travelling expenses.

In October 2013, managementissued second charge sheet andasked him to explain why hewould not be terminated. Underthe compelling situation, Nayakfiled case under MRTU andPULP Act at Mumbai. The courtordered for a status quo andasked the management tocomply the court order at theearliest. The Ranbaxymanagement then contactedRanbaxy council leaders and aframework was mutually decided.Finally, on 29 August, thenormalcy was restored on the fieldwork of Paresh Kumar Nayak.

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KMSRAs Tirur unit organizedits council subcommittee meetingat Malappuram on 19 September.

KMSRAs state secretaryP K Santosh inauguratedthe meeting. Districtsecretary E P Shibuwelcomed theparticipants. A note fordiscussion waspresented by statecouncil core committee

member Krishnanunni. Themeeting elected the new districtcouncil core committee withSuresh Babu as its convener.

Pfizer violates People'sRepresentation Act

P K Santosh addressing

FMRAI lodged complaint with the Chief ElectionCommissioner of India for appropriate action against drugMNC Pfizer for their order, through an e-mail on 13 October,to the sales promotion employees asking them to work in thefield on 15 October, the Assembly election day in Maharashtraand Haryana giving "two hours off time" for casting votes.This is against People's Representation Act, 1951.

In Elder

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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

* / / ) ' ) *Maharashtra

125 leading functionaries andactivists of MSMRA from itsthree regional committeesincluding the council leaders fromthese regions attended a tradeunion class at Amravati on 31August, 2014. CITUs vicepresident and former generalsecretary of FMRAI J SMajumder addressed theparticipants as the chief speaker.He narrated the background ofFMRAIs development; itsorganization and movement; andthe subsequent movementaltactics in todays scenario to face

the challenges of neo-liberalismin defense of the field workers andthe working class in general. Morethan 30 participants askeddifferent questions which were

answered. Joint secretary ofMSMRAs Amaravati unit SatishRege extended vote of thanks.MSMRAs president D MDeshpande presided.

*/&

Gujarat 0"1"

80 members of GSMRAsJunagadh unit attended their

general body meeting on 31August. CITUs Gujarat state

vice president Batik Makwanaaddressed the participants. Henarrated the present situation ofneo-liberalism and thechallenges faced by the workingclass. GSMRAs generalsecretary M N Dattani alsoaddressed. He highlighted thefield workers demandsregarding minimum wages; 8hours work; implementation ofSales Promotion Employees(Conditions of Service) Actand its violation by theemployers etc.

OdishaThe 4th district conference of

OSRUs Berhampur unit washeld on 7 September atComrade K L Bajaj manch inComrade R Umanath Nagarand was attended by 234delegates. Odisha statesecretariat member of CPI(M)Ali Kishore Pattnaik inauguratedthe conference. Dr. D J J Swamywas the chief guest. OSRUsgeneral secretary SubhankarDas addressed the participants.While criticizing the anti-peoplepolicies of the central as wellas the state governments, hebriefed about the present tasksbefore the field workers todevelop the organization and to

0 -!

intensify the movement to resistattacks on their jobs andprofession and to defend theirachieved rights. The conferenceelected a 16 member districtcommittee with A B S Patro as

president, Neela Lohita Sahuas secretary and MithunMukherjee as treasurer. Acultural programme and familyget together was organized onthe occasion.

West BengalThe 31st foundation day of

WBMSRU was observed on 23September in all 19 districts ofthe state by way of hoisting flagof the organization; organizingblood donation camps; holdingpopular lectures; and arrangingcultural programmes and familyget-togethers. At its statecentre in Kolkata, WBMSRUflag was hoisted by one of thevice presidents Sumit Roy.WBMSRUs general secretarySumahan Chakrabor tyaddressed the participants andexplained the progress of theorganization in terms ofmembership and achievements

0*&!

since its inception which willcontinue to be upheld despitethe ongoing socio-politicalunrest in the state. On the day,WBMSRU members donated

700 units of blood. In one suchblood donation campsorganized at Kolkata, CITUsstate general secretary DipakDasgupta was present.

Blood donation camp at Kolkata

Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand*2&0

Fatehpur46 members attended their annual general body meeting on

10 October. UPMSRAs vice president Arvind Tiwari addressedthe participants. An 11 member unit executive committee wasunanimously elected with Krishna Srivastava as president;Raghvendra Singh as secretary and Lokendra Singh as treasurer.

Haridwar

55 members attended their annual general body meeting on 9September. UPMSRAs CEC member Pradeep Maithani and itsDehradun unit secretary Anil Panwar addressed. A 11 membercommittee was unanimously elected with Pradeep Janoti aspresident, M Vishal Vaid as secretary and Lovin Kumar astreasurer.

Bihar-Jharkhand

A medical camp was organized by the members of BSSRUnions Dhanbad unit during the 23rd conference of LIC employeesHazaribagh zone on 7 September.

NOTICESWorking Committee Meeting of FMRAI

Date : 14.11.2014Time: From 10.00 a.m.

Venue : Hotel Amar Vilas, Near Milan Sweets,M. P. Nagar, Zone I, Bhopal 462 011. Madhya Pradesh.

All India Council ConferencesGerman Remedies

Date : 15 November, 2014Time : From 10.00 a.m.Venue: National Institute

of TechnicalTeachers Training& Research(NITTTR) Campus,Shamla HillsSlums, NearGandhi BhawanPolytechnic,Chaurah, Bhopal.

Albert David

Date : 22-23 November,2014.

Time : From 2.00 p.m.Venue : Maharaja Agrasen

Vidyalaya(Agrawal College)Motinagar,Lucknow.