COC Circulat

Comrades ,

The salary of all employees has increased by at least 14.29 per cent after the implementation of Seventh Central Pay Commission (7th CPC) recommendations. The 7th CPC has mentioned that increases given in minimum pay were 27.6%, 31.0% and 54.0% by Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Central Pay Commissions, respectively. This is the lowest increase in salary in 70 years. The salary hikes of government employees indeed appear meagre when compared to the 100 percent hike expected by the Members of Parliament soon. 

The NJCA constituents namely Confederation and AIRF have already declared to protest against non-fulfilling of assurances by the group of ministers on 30th June 2016 at New Delhi which has assured decent wage hike, the protest shall be organised by the Confederation on 15th December 2016 and AIRF on 14th December 2016. We hope others will join the main struggle path.

The MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE in a statement in Rajasabha on 29.11.2016 has stated that the Government has appointed a committee to deal with anomalies arising out of implementation of the recommendations of the 7th CPC, the minimum wage and fitment formula will be examined by the Anomalies Committee which has already been constituted. Based on the report of the Committee, the matter will be considered by the Government and appropriate decision will be taken as stated by Government.

Now comrades, there are different aspects the Central Government Employees should keep it in mind , the Staff side (JCM) had demanded the minimum wage of Rs 26,000/ to CG employees , the 7th CPC had granted only Rs 18,000/ against the demand of Rs 26,000/ , against the wage hike of 60% only 15 % wage hike was granted (without allowances ). The Government had accepted the 7th CPC recommendations without modification in minimum wage. 

Coming to the main issue of minimum wage, if the minimum wage increases then automatically the fitment formula increases and the salary hike will increase.

The Central Government is not keen on resolving this issue due to following reasons, but these reasons are not correct when analysed in greater depth.

a) The Central Trade unions had demanded a minimum wage of Rs 15,000/ , later on after the 7th CPC the trade unions have demanded the minimum wage to Rs 18,000/ and parity with CG employees . The Central Government has only provided Rs 9100/ as minimum wage against the demand of Rs 18,000/-.

b) The Bank employees minimum salary that of Group “D” level is Rs 9530/ - Plus DA + Allowances the total salary is around Rs 18,000/- and in case of clerks is Rs 11765/ - Plus DA + Allowances the total salary is around Rs 22,000/-. The Bank employees wage revision is due in 2017.

c) The Public sector undertakings minimum salary that of Group “D” level is Rs 10500/ - Plus DA + Allowances the total salary is around Rs 23,000/- and in case of skilled workers Rs 11700/ - Plus DA + Allowances the total salary is around Rs 26,000/-. There is no uniformity in pay structure of navarathna companies. 

d) The State Governments employees have started demanding parity with Central Government employees , even though a large number of State Governments have been giving parity in pay structure , if the Central Government raises the minimum wage and fitment formula the State Governments employees will also demand the same , this will put additional burden on State Governments. Secondly many State Governments have not implemented the pay commission recommendations, their pay is far below the Central Government employees pay and allowances for example Karnataka & Kerala . A few State Governments like Andhra Pradesh, Teleganna and Punjab have good pay structure.

e) The Central Government employees are paid Rs 18,000/ as basic pay + Transport allowances Rs 1600/-+ HRA of 24% in case of metro cites the total pay shall work out to Rs 24,000/- 

Comrades, the above augments does not hold good for consideration of revision of minimum wages and fitment formula for the Central Government employees.

1) The wage comparisons should be made only at skill level , not at unskilled level , the both the 6thCPC and 7th CPC have upgraded the minimum qualification at 10th Standard (metric Pass) at entry level for CG employees , the other sectors the entry level is at 8th Standard pass.

2) The most important aspects of the pay revision is that of paying capacity of the employer , in other sector’s case the wage bill amounts to be around 20 % to 30 % of the total revenue of that organisation. In case of the Central Government , the wage bill is around 10% , now with single common budget being presented by the Finance Minister from this year , the Railway , Defence and other Central Government departments which include , Ministry of Communication , Finance etc , there shall be no burden on the Railway ministry due to 7th CPC issues, the overall impact of wage bill for the year 2017 shall be around just 12% compared to more than 20% in other sectors, even if additional 10% wage hike is provided , the overall impact on wage bill shall not cross 13% , with the increased revenue by the Central Government expected this year , the wage bill will be only around just 12% of the total revenue generated.

3) The Central Government employees should be well paid as they are directly implementing the programs and policy of the Central Government, they serve as bridge between the Government and the common public.

4) There should not compere of wage structure of Central Government, with other sectors, as the nature of duties of CG employees are entirely different sectors. The CG employees are more accountable than other sectors. The principal for equal wage for equal work will not apply here.

5) The most important aspect of revision of wages for Central Government employees is the acceptance of Dr. Aykroyd formula by the 7th CPC , the 6th CPC had worked out the wages of CG employees on the same Dr. Aykroyd formula. However the 7th CPC had modified the Dr. Aykroyd formula and retail prices of essential items were not correctly computed. If these are rectified then the minimum wage of CG employees and fitment formula will undergo a vast change.

Now it is high time the minimum wage and fitment formula shall be revised.