As all of us know, ARTEE is in the midst of a number of court cases. Recently we fought the legal battle for AE to ASE case in quick succession in CAT, High Court and then the Supreme Court of India. This case had far reaching benefits for all the cadres. We had to incur heavy expenditure on the case. The case has finally been disposed off by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in favour of the Department but with an advice to find some ways and means to remove stagnation in any other form. We have already started negotiations with the CEO in this regard.

In the case of Pay revision of Technician from 01-12-1983 to 31-12-1995, we have fielded another senior advocate in the High Court along with the existing advocate.

Further, we are also exploring the possibilities of the case of newly recruited EAs and we may have to shoulder the financial burden for fighting this case as well, for the pay scale of Rs 6500-10500 for them, from their date of appointments.

All these cases will be costing us a huge amount. So we request to all our members, to donate liberally towards the Legal Fund, with a minimum of Rs 500/- for EAs and above, and Rs. 200/- for other cadres.

The Central Executive nominated me to represent ARTEE in the Asia - Pacific Conference of Media & TV workers held at Seoul, South Korea from October 29 to 31. The Workshop was organized by MEI-UNI, the media sector of Union Network International, which is the largest trade union body in the world. Members from 30 Associations/Unions in the field of Radio, TV and Film, from 10 countries participated in the conference. I was the only one from India.

Themes of the conference were, Defence of Public Service Broadcasting, Media Independence and Adaptation of New Technology to social needs. After adopting a resolution on the need for Public Service Broadcasting as a support for democracy and national cultural values, participants in the conference took part in a public protest against moves to undermine the licensing system in Korea for KBS, one of the three public service TV systems.

The participants spoke on the problems they are facing in their own countries. In my report, I highlighted the problems and issues of our members especially in the light of transition from Govt. control to Prasar Bharati. The recent SC verdict banning the strikes of Govt. employees and the deployment of personnel as consultants/operators on contract/casual basis was also pointed out in the conference and requested UNI to take up this matter with ILO.

Besides taking part in the conference and demonstration, we visited the facilities of the two largest public broadcasting systems in the country, KBS & MBC as well as the offices of newly merged National Union of Media Workers.

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