As many as 3,500 employees cast their votes on May 16 online from Dhaka and other regions. They elected the 17 members of the GPPC among 99 candidates under four divisions of the largest mobile operator. The employees could vote for the candidates of their respective divisions only.
As per the electoral rules, the members will now select the president, secretary general and other posts of the GPPC.
Following an unpleasant employees’ unrest within the company for the last couple of years, Grameenphone formed the GPPC last year. However, the council will not be a bargaining agency or a traditional union. Its members will meet the management at least every two months to discuss on the employees’ agenda.
“It is our expected result. The GPEU thinks that this election will help us to establish the employee’s rights in Grameenphone,” Fazlul Haq, acting president of GPEU, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Like Grameenphone, they expect, other corporate houses will now move forward with similar initiatives to ensure interest of the employees.
The 17 members represent different divisions of the company – six seats from the commercial division; five from finance, MD’s division, communications, corporate affairs and P&O division; four from technology division; and two seats reserved for women employees. Only the women employees voted for the two women representatives.
Fifty candidates fought for the posts of the commercial division. Of them, the winners are Shamim Hossain who bagged 835 votes, Akhter Hossain Chowdhury (805 votes), Muhammad Shakhawat Hossain Choudhury (802), Md Al-Walid Ghani (648), Subrata Kumar Das (613) and BM Zahidur Rahman (regional 600).
The five elected from the finance, MD’s division, communications, corporate affairs and P&O division are Mohammad Moinul Kader (410), Mia Md Shafiqur Rahman Masud-Mia Masud (392), Fazlul Haque (242), Md Mohsunud Dayan-Fattah (239) and Md Mahadi Hassan (218). Eighteen candidates from these divisions ran for the polls.
Of the 20 candidates under the technology division, the winners are Ahmed Monjuruddawla (548), Matuz Ali Quadri (448), Mostofa Mahmud Arifee (358) and Mihir Kumar Bhowmick (regional 533).
The two women representatives are Sarmin Akter Bobby (208) and Aneela Majid (193).
"The GPEU has no confrontation with the GPPC," Fazlul Haq said adding that since the registration of GPEU was yet to complete, they wanted to perform in the GPPC.
The chief corporate affairs officer of Grameenphone, Mahmud Hossain, earlier told the Dhaka Tribune that as labor law does not allow formation of union with its skilled manpower, GPPC could be a solution for building a bridge between management and employee.
The GPPC was approved by former CEO Tore Johnsen on October 30 last year in the wake of a movement against unlawful job cut and termination. The employees then demanded that a union be allowed, but the management refused.