Just two days before India became independent, i. e. on 13th August, 1947, three unions namely, AIPRMS Union, IPTU and ITA jointly formed Union of Posts and Telegraphs Workers (UPTW) which was recognized by the Govt as a separate union without allowing merger. The UPTW conducted its first All India Conference at Madras from 24th to 27th May, 1948 with decision to go for a strike and accordingly served strike notice on 1st February 1949 with 28 point charter of demands to go on strike from 9th March 1949. The Railway Unions decided for strike from the same date. Considering the strike a plan to destabilize the new Govt., action was taken to crush it at any cost and thus the leaders (OP Gupta, V S Menon, K G Bose, Dada Ghosh and many veterans) were arrested from various places across India, houses of Union leaders were searched and Union Offices were locked by police. Those who were not arrested kept in custody with refusal of bail and shifted to their own places without food in the train.
Protesting the above actions of the Govt. when Bengal Province Union of UPTW decided to go on strike from 9th March, 1949, mass arrests of workers were ordered and as many as 300 workers belonging to P&T and Railways etc remained in jail in Bengal only till end of 1949 who were charge-sheeted also. The 1949 proposed strike adversely affected UPTW with scars of victimization, dismissal and termination and the Govt. considered UPTW as a permanent menace. After crushing the strike of Railways and Central Govt. employees, the Govt. tried to control the Trade Unions who came forward in support of UPTW demanding withdrawal of anti-worker Labour Relations Amendment Bills and realignment of unions including release of jailed workers and reinstatement of dismissed / terminated workers. UPTW organized very successfully “Anti Black Bill Day” on 29th January 1951 with support of the MPs which compelled the Govt. to withdraw the Bill. After fruitful negotiation of UPTW with the then Communication Minister Rafi Ahmad Kidwai on 7th February 1950, most of the Comrades were released from jail and reinstated by March 1950 with exception to some workers like KG Bose (dismissed on 5th October, 1950), Saroj Mohan Chateerjee (removed), Moni Bose (terminated) and some others. Regarding realignment of unions, though R A Kidwai, MoC called a realignment Conference on 15th May 1951 with suggestion to form 8 unions by 31st October, 1951 (2 unions each i.e. Class-III, Class-IV) from Postal, RMS, Telegraph Traffic and Telegraph Engineering), the proposal couldn’t be successful due to various reasons. The situation was changed in the Nagpur AIC of UPTW from 25-30 October, 1953. A delegation under the leadership of Dada Ghosh, the then President of UPTW discussed the issue with MoC (Jagjiwan Ram) and DG (P) and later Dada Ghosh appealed to all Unions to support the Realignment Scheme for unity which became fruitful.
The Realignment Scheme outlined 9 all India unions (8 as above with formation of Circle and Divisional Unions at lower level along with EDAs and a combined Class-III & Class-IV union for Administrative Offices with no unit lower than Circle Union) and a Federation at the top. The joint Conference of the 9 realigned all India Unions was held on 21st November, 1954 and thereafter AICs of all the 9 unions were held separately electing their respective all India Office bearers and a total of 100 Federal Councillors to represent their unions in the Federation. The Federal Council of elected Councillors of all the 9 unions was held at Vinaynagar, Delhi on 24thNovember, 1954 which established National Federation of Posts and Telegraphs Employees (NFPTE) under the leadership of Dada Ghosh (Bhupendra Nath Gosh) as the first Secretary General. NFPTE and all its 9 all India unions were recognized by the Govt. on 4th March, 1955 which enthused the entirety of P & T Workers to grow faster with formation of Circle Unions and P & T Coordinating Committees.The first meeting of the Federal Executive comprising office bearers of NFPTE and the General Secretaries of 9 affiliated unions was held on 3-6 March 1955 with decision to organize a Demands Day on 20th April, 1955 for which 30 demands concerning various cadres and section were finalized which include appointment of Second Pay Commission, grant of full Trade Union rights, restoration of 20 days CL, increase in rate of pension etc. NFPTE showed its strength with participation of as many as 5000 workers and wide publicity in all newspapers. The first anniversary of NFPTE was celebrated at Delhi on 24.11.1955 followed by its first Federal Council at Calcutta from 28th December 1955 to 2nd January 1956 with adoption of a Charter 30 Points Demands which was submitted to the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who just forwarded to the MoC Shri Raj Bahadur.
Thus, the P & T Trade Union Movement initiated during 1905 from the Postal Club of Calcutta (Kolkata) GPO latter became recognised on 24th November, 1954 as NFPTE after years of uncompromised struggles and sacrifices for the benefit of the whole working class in general and P&T employees in particular. Consequent upon separation of P & T Department into Department of Posts and Department of Telecommunications in February 1986, NFPTE was bifurcated to NFPE and NFTE. The derecognition in 1960 and 1968 couldn't stop this militant organization to work. So there is nothing to be worried with this present derecognition since 26th April, 2023. We shall overcome. Now it is the time to celebrate this big day, I.e. the 24th November with vigour and vitality.
NFPE Zindabaad.
NFPE Long live.
Bruhaspati Samal
Ex-All India Organizing General Secretary, CHQ, New Delhi &
Ex-Circle Secretary, Odisha, NFPE (P-III)
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