The ultra-left newspaper Telegraph and its Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP) Group has devised a very cunning move to cut salaries, putting the blame on the Corona crisis. While other media houses directly issuing notice of salary cuts, the ABP Group came out with a notice asking employees to write an email “voluntarily” surrender 30 percent of salary. The Telegraph and their ABP Group’s staffers say, this has put them in a peculiar condition and they have no choice and otherwise, the “uncouth” management led by Aveek Sarkar and brother Arup Sarkar will terminate them.
“We are also keeping a close watch on the impact of this pandemic in our business. As of now, the daily advertisement revenue is almost zero. No one can forecast how long this will continue. An extension of the lockdown and its consequent impact on the overall economy will undoubtedly have an even more adverse impact on our business. Our priority, through all of this upheaval, is to ensure that our employees and their families stay safe, continue to make our products available to our readers and customers, while we simultaneously take appropriate measures to ensure business sustainability.
“In this context, I would like to propose that we voluntarily surrender 30% of our CTC with effect from April 2020. Kindly send a mail of your consent to abp.hrd@abp.in (format attached with this mail),” said the email send to all staffers by ABP Group CEO DD Purkayastha. The full email communication is published below this article.
No cuts are suggested for those making up to Rs.50,000 a month. But the rest are going to “want” to take a 30% salary cut.
PGurus has reported the salary cuts in Indian Express, Times of India and Hindustan Times and The Hindu newspapers ranging from eight percent to 35% at different levels [1].
Surrendering 30 percent of CTC (Cost To Company) may end up being higher in actual practice. Other newspapers implemented graded cuts and 30% were imposed on those drawing high salaries. The ultra-Left Group newspaper has implemented the same percentage of cut across the board, which is highly anti-staffer and against all labor ethics, say the staffers. “We have no choice. Those who wanted a job have to write a “voluntarily” 30% salary surrendering email. Otherwise, we will receive termination letters,” they say. “It is a clever move by Aroop Sarkar-led management to avoid any possible cases by the Government or the Labour Department,” they added.
The ABP Group and Telegraph was the most brutal in retrenching staffers for the past three years. Since 2017, the Telegraph newspaper has shunted out more than 1000 staffers and closed many Editions and Bureaus[2].
The ABP Group CEO’s letter seeing 30% surrender of salary is published below:
Telegraph 1 by PGurus on Scribd
References:
[1] Blaming Corona, ethics preaching The Hindu newspaper group also implements salary cut of 6-25% – May 7, 2020, PGurus.com
[2] Telegraph newspaper and Ananda Bazar Patrika going for another round of massice staff termination? – Mar 5, 2019, PGurus.com
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Among the newspaper companies, most fraud is Aveek-Arup Sarkar controlled ABP Group. They pretend as liberals and does reverse and uncouth on money matters. From 2017, Telegraph and ABP Group terminated more than 1000 people. This email to staffers to give consent to salary cut is a threat.