CONFEDERATION PRESS STATEMENT - URGENT NEWS FLASH

PRESS STATEMENT OF CONFEDERATION

 

 

DEAR COMRADES - THE CONFEDERATION HAS REACTED SHARPLY TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF GOVERNMENT DECISIONS ON PAY COMMISSION TODAY. THE PRESS STATEMENT OF CONFEDERATION IS REPRODUCED BELOW. CIRCULATE THE SAME TO ALL EMPLOYEES AND ORGANISE 20TH STRIKE AS A BEFITTING REPLY TO THE DISAPPOINTMENT CAUSED BY THE GOVERNMENT DECISION FOR  NOT TO ACCEPT MINIMUM MODIFICATIONS SUGGESTED BY THE STAFF SIDE.

 

PRESS STATEMENT

 

The cabinet has today decided to implement the 6^th CPC recommendations without accepting any of the major suggestions made by the employees organizations to the Committee of Secretaries.  The Govt. has accepted only those suggestions made by the officers organizations. The employees had demanded that the Govt. must re-determine the minimum wage at Rs. 10,000 computed on the basis of the 15^th ILC norms.  Had the minimum wage been computed even as per the formulations made by tbe  5^th CPC, it should have been Rs. 7400/-.  The Govt. had announced in March, 2004, that the Commission's recommendation to raise the salary by 40% would be accepted.  Since the fitment formula suggested by the Commission had not brought about the uniform rise of 40%, the employees organization before the Committee of Secretaries had pleaded for the revision of the same. As per the 6^th CPC recommendation, the fitment benefit was of the order of about 180% for senior officers and as low as 12% for a certain segment of employees.  Had the suggestion of the employees organizations been accepted, it would  have only brought about the uniform benefit of 40% for all employees without reducing the grand benefit bestowed on the top level officers of the Govt..  By not accepting this, the employees will continue to have a depressed wage for a long time to come.

 

The Govt. has not done anything to correct the wide disparity in wages amongst the employees and officers accentuated by the recommendation of the 6^th CPC, which was the root cause for discontent amongst the employees. The declaration made by the Govt. that the minimum wage would be raised to Rs. 7000/- is in fact a misnomer  The Wage of a group D employees is considered to be the minimum wage.  It is decided to be at Rs. 6046 even after the Cabinet decision.  It is only in the case of the lowest grade of Gr.C. cadres, the minimum wage is at Rs. 7000. This is far below even if the computation of minimum wage is made on the 5^th CPC recommendation, which would be Rs. 7400.  The employees are to suffer in their wages in the long run as the pay bands have been created on this premise.

 

The Commission has recommended for the abolition about 9 lakhs Group D posts. The Group D functions would be contractorised.  No decision seems to have been taken by the Govt. to reverse this recommendation. It is being reported that the Cabinet  has accepted the recommendation to reduce the number of holidays to be replaced by a lesser number of restricted holidays. This would bring about a difficult situation in as much as on certain religious holidays like holi etc. it would be impossible to keep open an office.

 

In short the present decision of the Government is disappointing in so far as employees are concerned as none of their major suggestions has been accepted by the Govt. The National Executive of the Confederation will meet soon to decide upon the future course of action. It appeals all Central Government employees to demonstrate their discontent and disappointment by fully participating in  the nation wide strike slated for 20^th August, 2008 along with other sections of the working class.

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K.Ragavendran
Secretary General NFPE