MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JS(IC) WITH THE MEMBERS OF THE STAFF SIDE ON 19.02.2016
Minutes of the Meeting of Joint Secretary (IC) with the Members of the Staff-Side
of the Standing Committee (National Council-JCM) held on 19.02.2016
Meeting was held under the chairmanship of Joint Secretary (Implementation
Cell), Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, with the Members of the StaffSide
of the Standing Committee (National Council-JCM) on 19.2.2016 to discuss the
issues raised by the National Joint Council of Action (NJCA) {Joint Consultative
Machinery (JCM)} in their letter No. NJC/2015/7th CPC dt. 10.12.2015, addressed to the
Cabinet Secretary, regarding their Charter of Demands on the recommendations of the 7th
Central Pay Commission.
The Secretary, Staff-Side of the Standing Committee (National
Council- JCM), who is the convener of the NJCA, along with other office bearers
attended the meeting. The list of the participants from the Staff-Side is attached below. Welcoming the members of the Staff-Side, JS(IC) mentioned that the meeting
has been convened to enable the Staff-Side to bring out their concerns on the
recommendations of the 7th CPC in the light of the Charter of Demands made by them in
the aforesaid letter of NJCA so that same could be examined in the Implementation Cell
and submitted for consideration of the Empowered Committee of Secretaries. He
informed the office bearers that before arriving at a decision, the ECoS would also hold
separate discussions with the Staff Side.
2. Commencing the discussions from the Side of the Members of the Staff-Side, Secretary, Staff-Side, Standing Committee (National Council-JCM), explained that they have already placed their Charter of Demands as per the letter of NJCA dated 10.12.2015. He mentioned that the reasons based on which these demands have been made have also been explained therein. He, however, highlighted that the Staff-Side is not at all happy with the recommendations of the 7th CPC and, in fact, no section of the employees is satisfied, as the Commission has recommended a minimal pay increase as compared to the previous Pay Commissions. He mentioned that the Staff-Side does not agree with the minimum pay of Rs. 18000 and the reason as to why the methodology adopted by the 7th CPC to arrive at this figure is not correct has been explained in their letter dated 10.12.2015. He stated that Staff-Side demands enhancement of the minimum pay to Rs. 26000 and the reasons in support of this have been given in their aforesaid letter. He further stated that an amicable and mutually negotiated settlement of these demands is necessary as non-acceptance would further cause resentment in the employees. He informed that Staff-Side has already made their stand clear to go on strike from 11th April, 2016 if their demands are not considered and no amicable settlement happens.
2. Commencing the discussions from the Side of the Members of the Staff-Side, Secretary, Staff-Side, Standing Committee (National Council-JCM), explained that they have already placed their Charter of Demands as per the letter of NJCA dated 10.12.2015. He mentioned that the reasons based on which these demands have been made have also been explained therein. He, however, highlighted that the Staff-Side is not at all happy with the recommendations of the 7th CPC and, in fact, no section of the employees is satisfied, as the Commission has recommended a minimal pay increase as compared to the previous Pay Commissions. He mentioned that the Staff-Side does not agree with the minimum pay of Rs. 18000 and the reason as to why the methodology adopted by the 7th CPC to arrive at this figure is not correct has been explained in their letter dated 10.12.2015. He stated that Staff-Side demands enhancement of the minimum pay to Rs. 26000 and the reasons in support of this have been given in their aforesaid letter. He further stated that an amicable and mutually negotiated settlement of these demands is necessary as non-acceptance would further cause resentment in the employees. He informed that Staff-Side has already made their stand clear to go on strike from 11th April, 2016 if their demands are not considered and no amicable settlement happens.
3. Thereafter, the other members of the Staff-Side also expressed their arguments for
acceptance of these demands and all of them emphasised that the minimum pay needs to
be revised. Consequently, the fitment multiple of 2.57 would also need commensurate
change. The leader of the Staff-Side explained that the office bearers who were present in
the meeting represent various sections of Central Government employees including
railways, defence civilians, postal employees etc., the number of which is around Rs. 32
lakhs.
4. The Staff-Side brought out their concerns on all the 26 demands included in the
Charter of Demands and all the points brought out by them in the letter of the NJAC dt.
10.12.2015 were reiterated. However, following issues in support of their demands were
highlighted :-
(i) Minimum Pay needs to be revised to Rs. 26000 p.m. and the minimum pay of
Rs. 18000 p.m. as recommended by 7th CPC is not acceptable. This would
require upward revision in the fitment multiple of 2.57 and change in the Pay
Matrix. It was argued that if the 10% of the pay for NPS contribution and the
recommended increase in the CGEIS contribution are taken into account,
there would be a drop in the take-home salary of the employees at the
minimum pay of Rs.18000.
(ii) Central Government employees need to be excluded from the National
Pension Scheme (NPS), which has been a long pending demand of the StaffSide.
The Staff-Side stated that the Pension Fund which has been created
under NPS to generate annuity for employees, would not ensure reasonable
pension. Rather it is quite likely that it may generate negative returns because
of the dismal performance of the financial market to which the fund is
invested, leaving the employees without any reasonable social security
benefit.
(iii) The 7th CPC has recommended abolition of 52 allowances without properly
appreciating the justification of these allowances. The example of break-down
allowance in case of Railway employees was given, stating that this
allowances is given so that the concerned employees take up the necessary
follow up action in the case of breakdown on an urgent basis and therefore its
withdrawal is not justified in operational interests of Railways.
(iv) The withdrawal of advances, especially LTC, TA, Medical, National
Calamity Advance, was not justified. It was argued that these advances are
recovered from the employees and, therefore, the same should be retained.
(v) In regard to enhancement of contribution under Group Insurance Scheme, it
was argued that increase in the contribution from the employees was not
justified and if the same is to be raised, the Government should bear the
insurance premium.
(vi) The post of LDC should be upgraded to UDC and as part of delayering, Grade
Pays of Rs. 1900, Rs. 2400 and Rs. 4600 should be abolished and merged with
the next higher Grades.
(vii) The rate of increment needs to be raised from 3% to 5% because pay is
revised in the Central Government after 10 years. It was mentioned that in the
PSUs the pay is revised after 5 years and the rate of increment is also higher.
(viii) Two increments in the feeder post may be granted as promotion benefit.
(ix) Fixed medical allowance for pensioners who are not covered by CGHS and
REHS needs to be increased from Rs. 500 p.m. to Rs. 2000 p.m.
(x) The recommendation regarding grant of only 80% of salary for the second
year of Child Care Leave need not be accepted and the existing provisions
may be retained
(xi) It was also demanded that though the D/o Expenditure has sought the
comments of the Ministries/Department on the issues pertaining to them after
consulting the Staff Associations, administrative Departments are not inviting
the Staff associations for discussions.
5. After detailed explanation by the Staff-Side on all the demands included in the
Charter of Demands, JS(IC), while concluding the discussions, assured the Staff-Side that
the concerns and demands made by them would be placed before the Empowered
Committee of Secretaries for consideration after examining the same in the light of the
recommendations of the Commission. He also mentioned that in cases where the
comments of the administrative Ministries/ Departments would be necessary, e.g., the
case of break-down allowance pertaining to Ministry of Railways, the same would be
considered before the issues are placed before the E-CoS. As regards the issue raised that
the administrative Departments are not inviting staff associations for discussions, JS(IC)
mentioned that the Departments have to formulate the views keeping in view the
representations made by the Staff Associations.
6. Thereafter, the meeting ended with thanks to the chair.
*Annexure
Members of the Staff side of the National Joint Council (JCM), who attended
the meeting with JS (IC) held on 19.02.2016 -7th Central Pay Commission
S.No Name (S/Shri)
1. Shiva Gopal Mishra
2. M.Raghavaiah
3. N.Kanniah
4. Guman Singh
5. K.K.N.Kutty
6. C.Srikumar
7. S.N.Pathak
8. Ashok Singh
9. R.N.Prashar
10. M.S. Raja
11. Giri Raj singh
12. Satish Chander
13. R.Srinivasan
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