Since invoices have been outstanding since last November, most contractors have stopped undertaking BSNL work. “Earlier this year, they lowered the retirement age for temporary agency workers to 58 and forced some workers to leave. Later in May, this rate was reduced to 56. More than 100 people lost their jobs. A new list of people aged about 52 has been drawn up. The BSNL Casual Contract Labour Union (CCLU) has filed a complaint against these measures in the Kerala High Court,” says Vamadevan, District Secretary of the CITU-affiliated BSNL CCLU. “The BSNL officials were not willing to give us an assurance of when the money will be credited.