CONFEDERETION CHARTER OF DEMANDS
EXPLANATORY NOTE
1. Stop price rise and strengthen the PDS.
The Economic crisis in nineties caused by the
indiscriminate borrowings indulged in by the then Government of India
from the world bodies like IMF World Bank etc. and the adherence to
their conditionalities created a conducive climate for the proponents
and champions of market economy to advocate the globalization path of
economic development. The State began to withdraw itself from various
sectors and the least governance was considered as the virtue and
synonym for good Government. In other words, the Government withdrew
itself from the concept of welfare State governance and opted for
faster economic development through privatization, liberalization and
globalization. The agony and misery of common multitude, the
consequence of adoption of market economy was considered by the rulers
as the price to be paid in the process. The various subsidies
provided to ensure that the essential commodities needed for human
existence is made available to the common people was treated as
profligacy and concerted efforts were made to cut them drastically
through budgetary proposals. The media, both print and electronic,
which had gone into the hands of large corporate houses propagated the
liberalization and globalization policies to the hilt and inside the
Parliament various legislations were moved and enacted by the ruling
class ably supported by almost all opposition parties, barring of
course the Left parties.
The Working class organizations except those affiliated to
INTUC and BMS realizing the dangerous impact of the neo-liberal
economic policies organized resistance through strike and other
demonstrative actions. Between the period 1991 and 2010, the
sponsoring committee of Central Trade Unions along with the different
Federations of employees organized strike actions on 13 occasions
which indeed made deleterious impact over the pace with which the
Indian ruling class wanted to usher in these policies. Not only the
common people, but also the intellectual and the middle classes had to
admit, albeit reluctantly, that but for the consistent opposition of
the left parties and the working class organizations, the global
financial crisis that engulfed the American and European Continents
and many other parts of the world would have destroyed the Indian
economy. To tide over disastrous ripples it created in the Indian
Economy, the Government had to make outflow of crores of rupees in the
name of bail-out packages to Indian Industry and corporate entities.
Once the crisis blew over, the Government went back to its good old
ways of implementing these discredited policies with a vengeance.
The unbridled accumulation of wealth in a few hands, the
cardinal consequence of the capitalist economic development bring
about a pyramidal society giving no room for the poor people at the
base even to eke out an existence. This aspect became more and more
pronounced over the years and reached a stage that it became
impossible for anybody who is supposed to be representing the workers
to continue to ignore this phenomenon. Those organizations which had
taken a contradictory stand against the sponsoring committee had to
come together to voice their concern against the marginalization of
the working people. Both BMS and INTUC had to join in the concerted
efforts of the workers to oppose, if not the policies, at least the
manifestation of it, i.e the escalation of prices of essential
commodities. The inflationary impact in the economy created by the
pursuance of the neo-liberal economic policies rather engineered was
conceived to effect transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. It
reached an intolerable stage in as much as its incremental rate from
quarter to quarter was in two digits .Never in the past has it
assumed the dimension of today with the result that all opposition
political parties in the country had to rally round inside and outside
the Parliament to denounce the Government of inaction and the
5thAugust, 2010 Nationwide bandh became total and resonant.
In the immediate years after independence, in order to
ensure food security to the people of India, the Indian ruling class
under pressure created the universal public distribution system for
food articles. It became an effective instrument in the years to
contain the artificial rise of market prices of essential commodities
especially in the face of hoarding and black market operations of
unscrupulous traders. The sweep and range of commodities made
available through these outlets, known as ration shops in the common
parlance even though beset with innumerable problems connected with
leakages and corruption, was the most effective welfare measure of the
Government of India, which in no small degree arrested and stopped the
starvation death in rural India. The advent of neo liberal economic
policies ensured that this singular welfare measure of universal
public distribution system was discarded.
Both inside and outside Parliament our Present day rulers
advocated that the higher prices are inevitable given the shortfall in
domestic production and due to prevailing higher prices of rice,
wheat, pulses and edible oil in international market. Far from truth
the statement of under production was, as the production of
food-grains in 2006-07 in our country was 9.3 cr. tonnes, 9.6 crores
in 2007-08 and 9.9 crores in 2008-09 despite the fact that our
investment in agricultural sector in the last ten years was less than
2% of the GDP and constantly year after year the Government had been
withdrawing subsidy to the farm sector.
To ensure that the universal PDS is in operation, and the peasants do
get remunerative price for their produce, the Government had created a
buffer stock of food-grains through the FCI. The statutory norm fixed
was to have 200 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice as buffer stock.
Presently the FCI godowns carry 475 lakhs of food-grains. Of it 3
million tones are reported to be rotting for want of space in the
warehouses and rats the beneficiaries. This made the honourable
Supreme Court to ask the Government as to why that which cannot be
stored properly be distributed to the poor.
While dismantling of the PDS destroyed the food security
enjoyed by the poor so far, the permission granted to speculators to
indulge in forward trading in food articles with an intent to
artificially boost the statistical growth of economy resulted in the
soaring of prices in the market. The fervent appeals made by the
informed public, intelligentsia in the society and the
Parliamentarians belonging to the left parties to ban forward trading
fell in the deaf ears for that would have entailed in the slowing down
the reforms, which course the UPA II Government had vowed to
intensify. The present FM is on record to state that taming
inflation will lead to blunting the economic growth. Despite the
reportedly enviable growth rate of 8 to 9% over the past few years and
the consequent rise in the per capita income of our country, vast
majority of our countrymen have become poorer while the number of
dollar billionaires were doubled. According to Shri Arjun Sengupta
report, 77% of Indian population have a daily income of less than Rs.
20. And the Tax concessions, deduction and exemptions given away to
those who can afford to pay the levies and taxes was of the order of
Rs. 6 lakh crores.
It is on the top of all these, the GOI hiked the petrol
prices perhaps the nth time the UPA is in power on the specious plea
of helping the Public Sector Petroleum marketing companies out of the
under recoveries. In the context of IOL making a profit of 10998
Crores in 2009-10 and the respective figure for HPCL and BPL being Rs.
544 Cr and 874 crores and the Govt. of India making a neat additional
tax of Rs.86,000 crores (Rs. 110000 Crores minus State share of Rs.
24,000 crores), an insensitive Government alone can allow the
petroleum companies to again rise the prices.
This being the general scenario which must be of concern
to us rather of grave concern, it would be pertinent to note the
erosion in our real wages brought about by the unprecedented
escalation of retail prices of commodities of daily consumption. The
6th CPC determined the minimum wage on the basis of the retail prices
of various commodities as existed on 1.01.2006. (Please see page 53 of
the 6th CPC report). We are, unlike those in the unorganized sectors,
in the company of those segment of the working class, who get their
wages cost indexed, howsoever, defective, trivial and insufficient it
is. Therefore, we get 45% addition to our wages in the form of DA (
raised to 51% by the recent hike). From the table given hereunder we
can see that the average rise in the prices of those commodities which
are taken for the computation of minimum wage has been of the order of
175%.as on 1.9.2010, which is taken the present day rate might further
escalate
Sl.No Name of articles Price as on 1.1.2006 As on date %increase
1Rice 18 38 120
2Dhall4varieties;average 40 87 120
3Rawvegetables 10 40 400
4Greenveg. 10 56 560
5Otherveg 10 40 400
6Fruits 30 100 330
7milk 24 32 40
8Sugar,jiggery.average 24 43 95
9Edibleoil.3varieties.average 50 95 95
10Fish 120 300 150
11meat 120 40 100
12egg 2 3 50
13Detergents/soap 200 350 75
14Cloth 80 120 50
Average increase : 174
Item No.2 and 3- Stop outsourcing, contractorisation, corporatisation and privatisation of Governmental functions. Fill
up vacant posts and create posts on functional requirements.
The VI-CPC had recommended the abolition of Gr. D. posts numbering
about 9.4 lakhs in the Government of India.. The CPC raised all the
Gr. D employees existing in the Govt. sector to the status of a
skilled worker and placed them in Gr. C pay scale. The suggested pay
scale of the upgraded personnel is analogous to the pre-revised pay of
Rs 2750-70-3800-75-4400. In fact the said pay scale was the fourth
grade of pay suggested by the V-CPC for the unskilled workers. In
para 3.7.7 of the Pay commission recommendations the commission has
observed that:
"Increasingly' basic work relating to cleaning, sweeping, maintenance
etc. is being outsourced. This is a welcome trend that needs to be
encouraged by bringing about systematic changing in the existing
scheme so that the employees in Govt. are only utilized for requiring
a certain levels of skills".
It is a fact that majority of the functions presently carried out by
the Gr.D employees across the Board is unskilled. What had actually
been done by the Commission is to abolish the unskilled functions in
the Governmental sector to pave way for more and more
contractorisation of these jobs while the existing employees (whose
working strength has become less than 50% of the sanctioned strength)
might be classified as Gr.C. and assigned to do functions which are of
skilled nature with lesser emoluments than what it could have been
even as per the V-CPC recommendations. It is therefore, a disastrous
recommendation. In the days to come the unskilled nature of jobs
would be either outsourced or would be contractorised. This
recommendation therefore, is not for the benefit of the existing
employees who are recruited as unskilled workers. Now the recruitment
will hereafter become unavailable in the Governmental sector for those
who are in the lower strata of the society who could not afford or who
are not provided even the primary education even though the universal
primary education is stated to be the objective and goal of a welfare
Government as per our constitution.. In fact they are being punished
for the social inability or abdication of the responsibility on the
part of the Government to provide them with a decent standard of
living or the nascent requirement of primary education. The
recommendation is therefore, a by-product of the neo-liberal economic
policies pursued by the Govt. since 1991 which we have been fighting
against all these years along with other segment of the working class.
As has been feared, the Government has now decided to
ensure that all unskilled jobs are contractorised. The guidelines
issued by the Department of Personnel for the Multi-tasking staff
makes it mandatory that the future recruitees in government service
must have a minimum educational qualification of matriculation. The
recruitment will be done through the Staff Selection Commission.
These personnel may not be deployed for the unskilled jobs like that
of sweeper, farash, Mali, watchmen etc. These functions would
naturally be contractorised. The Department of Personnel has already
advised all concerned to go in for contractorisation of these
functions. The workers so recruited by the contractors are not to have
any job security as they will be liable for the hire and fire system.
Outsourcing
In the background of the continuing ban on recruitment,
many of the Government organizations has resorted to outsourcing of
their functions which are of permanent and perennial nature to
agencies on fixed rates. The very fact that the Government has made
available funds for the Departmental heads to resort to outsourcing
establishes the policy being pursued by the Government. The functions
hitherto being carried out by the Group C employees and the Group B
Non gazetted are liable to be outsourced. Once the system is
established, there will be no likelihood of any fresh creation of
posts in these cadres. The large scale computerization has helped the
outsourcing as a feasible proposition.
Item No.4 - Revise wages of CGEs with effect from 1.1.2011 and every
five years thereafter.
It is in the context of the ever increasing prices and the inaction
on the part of the Government to tackle it for it might effect
adversely the so-called economic growth and the dearness compensation
being what it is, the National Council of the Confederation, which met
at Mumbai on 2nd Dec 2010, decided to demand the next wage revision
immediately. It also took note of the fact that the Government did
concede the demand of the workers in the Central Public Sector
Undertakings, rightly so, to revise the wages every five years (
2006-2011). In the absence of specific recommendation by the 6th CPC
over the period in which the present Pay Structure should be in
vogue, , it was the unanimous opinion emerged in the deliberations
at the National Council that the wages must be revised without further
delay. Besides, the expert body on wage revision of Civil Servants i.e
the 5th CPC had categorically stated that an interim wage revision in
the form of merger of DA with Pay must take place as and when the DA
component in wages exceeds the 50% limit. As on 1.1.2011, the DA is
51%. This apart the Council rightly noted that the Pay Band. Grade pay
system brought in the 6th CPC has created anomalies beyond correction
and had been designed and devised to benefit the personnel in
Group. A only services. In our submissions to the Government on the
6th CPC recommendations, we had categorically with facts and figures
pointed out that the wage increase will tapper off over a period
of 6-7 years and thereafter the wages would begin to compare
unfavourably with the one determined by the 5th CPC The Government
must come forward to set up an expert committee with staff-side
representatives to revise the wages of CGEs immediately.
Item No 5 - Stop the New Pensions Scheme and extend the statutory
defined benefit pension to all CGEs irrespective of the date of
recruitment.
The present defined benefit scheme of pension was introduced replacing
the then existing contributory system. As part of the neo liberal
economic policies, the Government decided to reconvert the same into
contributory and make the fund available for the stock market
operations. It is the vagaries of the stock market which will
determine the pension returns from this fund. Before the introduction
of the PFRDA bill, the Government had set up a committee under the
chairmanship of Shri Bhattacharya, Chief Secretary of the State of
Karnataka. The bill has been drafted and presented to the Parliament
disregarding even the recommendation of the said committee to the
effect that the Govt. should consider introducing a hybrid system by
which the employees will have a defined benefit, if they choose to be
satisfied with the said return and can opt for a higher return through
stock exchange investments. The Bill could not be passed in the
Parliament as the Left Parties took the principled position that they
would not support a proposal detrimental to the interest of the
employees. Despite the non passage of the bill and the consequent
absence of a valid law to support the Pension Regulatory authority,
the Govt. has converted the existing pension scheme into a
contributory one and invested a percentage of the fund so generated
from the employees contribution in the Stock market,
Pension is earned by an employee by rendering service and therefore
there is no requirement of any payment by the employee for earning
pension. This statutory right of the employee is enforceable through
courts. The Supreme Court has declared pension as one of the
fundamental rights. The government should therefore retrace from its
avowed position, which is detrimental to the interest of the employees
and ensure that the employees recruited after 1.1.2004 is covered by
the existing statutory defined benefit scheme. The bill which was
earlier introduced in the Parliament got lapsed an d could not be
passed for want of a majority as the left parties were opposed to the
same. The Govt. has now sought and obtained the support of BJP and
other allies of the NDA. The Bill was reintroduced in the Parliament
in the last session. The introduction itself was opposed by Com.
Basudeb Acharya, M.P. and leader of the CPIM in the parliament. The
bill's introduction has to be through voting. With the support of BJP
and other parties the bill has now been introduced and would come up
for consideration at the next session of the Parliament.
Item No. 6 - Regularise the Daily rated workers, GDS, remove ceiling on
compassionate appointments end discrimination in the grant of bonus to
GDS employees.
In the background of the continuing ban on recruitment, most of the
departments resorted to recruit persons on daily wage basis. Many of
them have completed more than a decade in Government service. They
had been on the pay roll of the Government to carry out the functions
of a permanent and perennial nature. The resort to recruitment of
daily waged workers to carry out the functions which are clearly
permanent and perennial nature is in clear violation of the extant
instruction in the matter. Having elicited their service for the past
several years, they should be regularized as permanent employees with
all concomitant benefits. Retrenching them to be replaced with fresh
daily rated workers is impermissible.
Similar is the case of GDS employees in the Postal Department. This
system, a colonial concept ought to have been discarded long time
back. The functions entrusted to the GDS in the Postal Department are
of permanent nature. Some of them are required to do more than 8
hours work a day. Many of the post offices, especially in rural areas
are manned by the GDS and the postmen are required to function
continuously for more than 8 hours a day but still paid as a part time
employee. There should be a system by which these employees who are
recruited as GDS are absorbed as regular employees after a pre
determined number of years of service. Another issue pertaining to
the GDS is the unjust denial of the benefit of the raised quantum
ceiling on bonus calculation. While the Bonus Act was amended by the
Government, raising the emoluments ceiling for the purpose of
calculation of bonus from Rs. 2500 to 3500, it was extended to all
civil servants except the GDS. Most of the GDS has a monthly
emoluments beyond the limit of Rs. 3500. There is no justification
for denying this benefit to them.
Item No.7 - Remove restriction imposed on compassionate appointment and the discrimination on such appointments between the Railway workers
and the other sections of CGES.
On the pretext of the directive of the Supreme Court, Govt. introduced
the concept of a 5% ceiling on the compassionate appointment. The
fact was that there had been no such directive from the Honourable
Supreme Court. There had been no rhyme or reason for this
stipulation. Despite the repeated discussion on the subject at the
National Council and its Standing Committee and the solemn assurance
given by the Cabinet Secretary in the wake of the last strike action,
nothing has been done in this regard to resolve the issue. It is
pertinent to mention in this connection that the compassionate
appointments in the Railways continue to be operated without any such
ceiling. Moreover in the Department of Posts hundreds of compassionate
appointment candidates selected by Selection Committee are being
denied jobs and attempt to oust them is on. Through legal stay orders
these candidates known as RRR Candidates are fighting the battle. The
Government should withdraw the SLP filed against them and absorb them
all as regular employees and withdraw the orders imposing and
arbitrary ceiling of 5% and non-consideration of the case of
candidates whose applications are pending for more than 3 years.
Item No.8 - Stop the move to introduce the productivity linked wage
system; performance related pay; introduce the PLB to all departments
; remove the ceiling of emoluments for bonus computation.
The Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, the country's
prestigious and prime business school was requested by the 6th Central
Pay Commission to go into the question of the feasibility of
introducing the performance related wage system in civil service. On
behalf of the
Confederation, a delegation had the opportunity to meet the persons in
charge of the feasibility study and interact with them. The
delegation drew the attention of the IIM Ahamedabad of the
performance related wage system introduced in many western countries
especially after the Thatcher led conservative Government took the
initiative in this regard. She was of the opinion that the Government
should not be in the business and the Governments must be run on
business line. Over the years as was the case with many of the
reforms she introduced in the U.K. the performance related wage system
also failed. Same was the fate of many other western countries who
followed the Thatcher Government. By the time the 6th CPC wanted to
introduce the said methodology of restructuring the wage system in
Indian Civil service, the idea had already become discredited by its
sheer non performance. Except stating that they were aware of what
has been presented by us, they never made any comment either in
support of in negative. The 6th CPC kept their report confidential as
was the case with many such reports which they had commissioned. No
mention is made in the voluminous report of the Commission of the pros
and cons of a system which they wanted to introduce.
Our main objection to the so called performance oriented wage system
was that it would be seldom based on objectivity. That had been the
prima cause of its failure elsewhere. It is mentioned on many
occasions that the Grade pay attached to the PB must be seen in fact
as a pay for performance of an individual employees. In other words,
it can be withdrawn when it is felt that one has not performed well.
It is also stated that the Grade Pay which is more or less 40% is the
element of rise the 6th Pay Commission chose to grant to the civil
servants taking into account various factors that had diminished the
wage structure of the CGEs since the 5th CPC recommendations were
implemented. There had been a reduction of staff strength in all
departments of the Government of India across the board through an
executive fiat which was issued in 2001 by the NDA Government. It
continued till 2009-10. Only one-third of the vacancies were allowed
to be filled up. The two thirds were to be abolished. In other
words, the existing employees were asked to work more, perform
exponentially as the workload over the period had tremendously
increased and the ban on creation of posts ensured that the required
hands are not allowed to be recruited from the market. This compelled
many departmental heads to outsource the Governmental functions to
private contractors i.e. the backdoor entry of an unfair labour
practice in Governmental sector. The linking of Grade Pay to the so
called performance is nothing but reduction of wages, which we cannot
and must not countenance.
The productivity linked bonus system was the result of the long drawn
out struggles of Government employees, especially of the Railwaymen.
The Railway employees under the banner of NCCRS braved all repressive
measures of the Government in the indefinite strike action 1974 and
the major issue projected through the struggle was the illegitimacy
of denying Bonus to workers in Government establishment. It was
granted to Railwaymen and Postal workers in 1979 and the others had to
fight against the unjust discrimination till 1982-83 when the
Government had to ultimately extend it to all. The 4th and 5th CPCs
went into the matter and their recommendations are quite commendable.
They had categorically stated that the PLB must be introduced in all
Departments as it is feasible to measure it in almost all Government
departments. The issue is still pending decision at the Department of
Expenditure.. While they assure to discuss the issue to reach a
finality whenever the matter is raised in the JCM fora, the
Expenditure division of the Finance Ministry had been dilly dallying.
The adhoc bonus for 30 days continue for the past two decades without
any increase while the PLB wherever it is in operation register an
increase every year. Some of the PLB covered employees were given more
than two months bonus last year. Another issue connected with the
bonus payment is the arbitrary emoluments ceiling fixed by the
Government of India in the computation of bonus. While most of the
employees receive salary far grater than the restrictive limit
specified in the Bonus Act, the bonus is computed on the notional
amount of Rs. 3500/- The oft repeated question is why must there be a
ceiling on bonus when no such ceiling is thought of in the case of
making profit,.
ItemNo.9 - Settle all anomalies including the MACP related ones raised in the Departmental and National Anomaly Committees and ensure the
functioning of JCM in all departments.
Ever since the 1993 recognition rules were promulgated the JCM as a
negotiating forum stopped meeting in various departments and
Ministries. The Official side takes one pretext or the other to see
that the councils do not meet and the employees are denied any access
of negotiations of their legitimate demands. The anomalies that had
arisen over the recommendations of the 5th CPC were not subjected to
discussion in the JCM at the Departmental levels of many Ministries.
This consequently resulted in the non removal of the anomalies. The
6th CPC refused to consider any one of these issues and the anomalies
were carried forward. These anomalies were reflected in the
assigning of Pay Band and Grade pay in many cadres. The Department
of Expenditure while setting up the anomaly committees defined the
term anomaly differently from what was agreed upon by the Staff Side
and the Government (with the Group of Ministers ) in 1997. As per the
new definition the anomaly that has arisen from the recommendations of
the 5th CPC will not come within the ambit of the anomaly committees
that are being set up after the 6th CPC. This apart there had been no
functioning of the JCM at the Departmental levels in various
Ministries and consequently no anomaly committee has been set up in
such departments. Despite the issue being raised in the National
Anomaly Committee, and the National Council or Standing committee
meetings by the Staff Side, no steps are being taken to address the
issue.. The National Anomaly Committee is yet to conclude though more
than a year is passed and the way the deliberations are conducted
therein, it is certain that no positive outcome could be expected form
it, especially in the frame work of the definition of the very term
anomaly itself.
Item No.10 - Make the right to strike legal
Continuing with the colonial concept of denying the Civil
servants the privileges enjoyed by the other sections of the society
is a matter of great distress. Article 309 of the Constitution makes
it incumbent upon the Government of India and the Provincial
Government to make enactments to regulate the service conditions of
the civil servants. The Indian Parliament had no time to make such
enactment. In fact the Indian ruling class wanted no such enactments.
The transitory provisions empowering the President of India to make
rules till such time the enactment is made has been employed to
regulate the service conditions of the Government employees.
Once recruited as an employee, the ILO's conventions provide all trade
union rights. India is a signatory to those conventions. Despite all
these legal and moral obligations on the part of the Government, the
Government employees continue to be denied the right to collective
bargaining. No negotiation is worth the meaning, if the employees
have no right to withdraw their labour in case of a non satisfactory
agreement on their service conditions. It is this legal lacuna which
was employed by the Supreme Court to justify the arbitrary dismissal
of lakhs of employees by the Tamilnadu State Government when they
resorted to strike action. In the judgment delivered by the Supreme
Court, it was observed that the Government employees do not have any
legal, fundamental or moral right to resort to strike action. It is
all the more an injustice especially when the Government considers
that strike is a right of the workers in the Public Sector undertaking
and that of the private enterprises in the country. It is paramount
that the Government employees do have the right to strike in order to
force upon an agreement for better wages and service conditions.
Item No. 11 - Implement all arbitration awards.
It was in the wake of the indefinite strike of the Central
Government employees in 1960, the Government thought of having a
permanent forum for negotiation of the demands, problems and
grievances of the employees. After prolonged discussion with the then
existing Federations and Unions, the JCM machinery came into being On
important issues like pay, allowances and leave, the Government
offered to have arbitration through an independent body in case no
agreement could be reached between the organisations and the Government
after discussion in the JCM. Initially, the Govt. had been
implementing the awards of the Board of Arbitration, which were in
favour of the staff. The Staff Side was prohibited to raise the issue
for a prescribed period of time, in case the same has been found not
acceptable by the Board of Arbitration. The scenario underwent a
drastic change in the last two decades in as much as the Government
refused to implement any award and began to refer the same to the
consideration of the Parliament on the specious plea of adversely
affecting the national economy. There were 16 such awards, which had
been referred to the Parliament but in the wake of negotiation, the
Government agreed to withdraw these cases from the Parliament and
further negotiate with the Staff Side with a view to reduce the
financial implications. Several rounds of discussions were held
thereafter at the level of the Secretary (Personnel). In most of the
case the staff Side agreed to waive the arrear payments. Despite the
said gesture, the Government did not think it fit to implement any one
of them except in the case of stenographers, for which orders were
later issued. Some of these awards have again come up before the
Parliament. Give the majority in the Parliament for the ruling party,
these awards could be got rejected by the Govt .which if done would be
a mockery of the JCM scheme itself. Having lost the case before an
independent body of juries, the Government should have the moral
courage to implement the awards.
Item No. 12. - Revise the rate of interest of GPF. Revise the OTA and
night duty allowances and stitching charges
It is ridiculous that the Overtime allowance of Central Government
employees except those in the Railways and Defence to be reckoned with
the pay structure that was obtaining in 1986 i.e. more than 25 years
back. It is nothing but sheer exploitation of the workers. If an
outsider is employed the same Government pays three times than what
is given to a regular employee. If one refuses to work beyond office
hears, the colonial rules comes into operation. He might face for
disobedience even dismissal. The matter was as per the joint
consultative machinery scheme before the Board of Arbitration. The
Government pleaded fervently but so feeble was their argument that the
honourable members of the Board of Arbitration ruled that the OTA must
be based on the actual salary one received at the relevant point of
time. Elsewhere we have narrated the story of the awards of
Arbitration in the hands of the present Government. They are now
seeking the Parliamentary mandate to reject this just and reasonable
award in the name of national economy. The pittance given to the
employees for extracting work is considered as a drain on the economy
while they merrily go around indulging in profligacy. The same is the
case with the Night duty allowance. The rate of interest in the case
of GPF was reduced from 12% to 8% under the specious plea that the
bank rate of interest had been reduced as part of the new economic
regime. It was assured that as and when the bank rates are raised it
would automatically follow. The Bank rates had to be raised.
Presently an investment in any nationalised bank beyond 500 days
fetches an interest of more than 10% and the GPF deposit is for the
service life of an individual, spanning in many cases for more than
35 years. It is high time that the Government is compelled to restore
the rate of interest on GPF back to 12% p.a.
Another issue is the stitching charges. The Government refuses to
recognise the need to revise the rates. The market rates are almost 4
to 5 time what the employee gets reimbursed from the Government.
Given the fact that most of the uniformed personnel are at the lower
levels of the hierarchy, it is cruel that the Government extracts
money from them for being in service, the condition of which is they
are to perform duties wearing the prescribed uniform.
Item No. 13 - Merge DA with pay for all purposes including pension as
and when the DA rate crosses the 50% mark.
As on Ist January, 2011, the CGES are entitled to dearness
compensation at the rate of 51% of their pay. As has been pointed out
elsewhere in this memorandum the said compensation computed on the
basis of what the Labour Ministry calls the All India average of
consumer price index is miles away from the real prices that rule the
market on commodities that goes into the basket of minimum wage. In
most of the countries, the wages are price indexed on a year to year
basis. However, we adopted a system of allowance called the Dearness
allowance to compensate the wage earners for erosion of the real value
of their wages through escalation of market prices. The successive
Pay commissions have recognised the need for merging the DA component
with the pay so that the allowances which are reckoned with reference
to basic pay could be enhanced as otherwise it would be a drain on the
wages of the worker. The 2nd CPC recommended for such merger when the
CPI crosses over 272 points. The 3rd CPC merged the DA at 320 points
and the IV CPC at 568. The 5th CPC suggested that as and when the
DA percentage reaches the 50% mark, it must be merged and the
allowances to be computed on Pay with the merged portion of DA. This
recommendation was accepted by the Government and the DA was merged
accordingly. The 6th CPC however departed from this principle and
recommended that as and when the DA percentage exceeds 50%, all
allowances are to be raised by 25%. There appears to be no rationale
behind this decision except that they intended that no wage revision
should be automatic and any compensation due to inflation must be
beneficial to the employer and not the workers. No specific time
frame has been suggested by the 6th CPC to revise the wages.
Elsewhere in this memorandum we have detailed the rationale and
justification for a periodical wage revision once in five years. Even
if the DA is merged we could see that it would not compensate the
workers for the great erosion that has already taken place in the real
wages. So, the 25% compensation must not be acceptable and the least
the Govt. Could do is to order for the merger of the 50% DA with the
Pay, which would be in consonance with the principle evolved through
successive Pay Commissions.
Item No. 14. - Vacate All Trade Union victimization.
Vindictive actions against the Trade Union workers are as old as the
collective bargaining itself. In the post Independent India, the
trade union history is full of such atrocious behaviour on the part
of the employers. The Govt. Of India had been in the forefront of
such uncivilised action in the Sixties and Seventies. There had been
terrific repression of the Union activists whenever the CGEs organised
collective actions. The indefinite strike action of 1960, the one day
token strike of 1968 and the great Railway Workers strike in 1974
resulted in unprecedented brutal suppressive measures against the
leaders. Thousands of employees lost their job, good number of them
was brutally killed and thousands were proceeded against under
various rules and regulations, conceived and put in the rule book by
the colonial rulers. It is to the credit of those courageous
comrades who sacrificed their life and career that the Trade Union
movement is what it is today. It is the demand for vacation of all
vindictive actions that is more important and more significant than
any in the charter. Without resisting and defeating all nefarious
attempts of the bureaucracy in this direction, we may not be able to
sustain or build up a militant movement, which is the pre requisite
for onward march. Presently one of the founding affiliate of the
Confederation the All India Audit and Accounts Association is facing
numerous vindictive actions initiated by the Audit bureaucracy. With
the committed and united action of the entirety of the Central Govt.
Em0ployees, we shall ensure that the vindictive actions wherever it
takes place will be got vacated.
****
--
M.Krishnan
Secretary General NFPE
