Some 200 employees of Grameenphone have shown interest to accept the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) offered by the country's biggest mobile phone operator as of today.

The telecom operator said the employees became redundant over the years because of the changed customer needs and its evolving business model.

Grameenphone offered VRS on June 3 this year and asked 259 employees to inform by June 17 whether they wanted to accept the offer.

Some 100 employees applied for the scheme before the deadline. Later, the operator retrenched 159 employees as they refused to accept VRS.

"100 out of the retrenched 159 employees applied for VRS until today," Md Hasan, head of external communications at Grameenphone, told The Daily Star.

The leaders of the Grameenphone Employees Union (GPEU) protested against the retrenchment and asked GP management to reinstate them.

When 100 showed interest to accept VRS, Mia Md Shafiqur Rahman Masud, general secretary of GPEU, said: "We have no objection if any employee take VRS.  We are protesting against the illegal retrenches."

"Grameenphone recently forced 159 employees to take VRS after firing them, which is inhumane."

Masud said the movement would continue till the job cuts are not stopped.

"So far, we have 64 workers with the movement. If someone is fired unjustly, the protest programme will continue on behalf of the union. We will not back down from our position even if it is for one person."

He said the union has decided to send letters to the post and telecom division and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission regarding the dismissal and take legal action against the operator.