News

The Grameenphone management has decided to recognise the Grameen Phone Employees Union (GPEU) as an internal union at the company level.



This news comes less than a week after Telenor ASA signed an agreement with UNI Global Union. The agreement between Telenor and UNI promotes trusting relationships between employees, their representatives and the companies within Telenor Group, through mutual cooperation and satisfying working conditions. It also establishes mutual understandings about the process of unionization among Telenor employees.



Grameenphone is a joint venture enterprise in Bangladesh between Telenor, the largest telecommunications service provider in Norway, and Grameen Telecom Corporation, a non-profit sister concern of Grameen Bank.



GPEU can now hold union meetings in the office and are consulted by the management. The Grameenphone management has also started involving and inviting GPEU to meetings as employees' representatives.



In a comment posted on Telenor Global News Portal, Executive Member of GPEU, Mohammed Mobasher Hossain, congratulated to UNI and thanked the President and CEO of Telenor Group, Jon Fredrik Baksaas, for the signing of “such a great agreement”. He also extended special thanks to Tor Harald Stromsnes, Head of Direct Sales in Grameenphone who first come forward to approach the union.



GPEU is now undergoing formal registration as an enterprise-level union under the trade union act of Bangladesh. This will grant them Collective Bargaining Agreement rights according to the country's labour law.



UNI Apro is now working to develop GPEU through regular contact and will be meeting them soon to discuss how we can support the union’s growth. We hope that the Telenor Management in Thailand and Malaysia will also recognised the respective trade union in DTAC Thailand and Digi Malaysia soon.



“We are really thankful to Grameenphone P&O for taking positive initiatives to move ahead of creating a winning organization. We believe we all together can make a great trustworthy organization in Grameenphone and Telenor,” said Mohammed Mobasher Hossain.