Dear Colleague,
The Standing Committee of the JCM National Council met on 9th October,
2015. As you are aware, earlier, the National JCA had decided to defer
the strike action and organize a massive Dharna programme at Jantar Mantar on
19th November, 2015 to register its strongest protest over the
Government’s engineered delay in the submission of the 7th CPC
Report. Later, the Finance Ministry has issued a statement asking
the 7th CPC to factor into its report the fiscal concern of the
Government, which was an unwarranted interference in the independent
functioning of the Commission and to pressurise the Commission not to recommend
wage rise on the basis of a sound and scientific formulation.
The Staff side on receipt of the invitation to have the meeting on 9thOctober,
decided to respond and convey to the Government their strong resentment over
the virtual dilution of the negotiating forum as also the above
concerns. In the meeting the Staff side was informed that the
Secretary Personnel would be meeting the Standing Committee soon and the
meeting on 9thwas in fact only a prelude to understand each other’s
points of views. It was in the background the meeting was held on 9th October,
2015.
The leader and Secretary, Staff Side conveyed the unanimous decision of the
National JCA as under to the Government.
(a) The Standing Committee, as per procedure evolved,
must be chaired by the Secretary Personnel.
(b) The JCM Machinery’s functioning should not be diluted.
(c) The promised meeting of the National Council has not
taken place so far.
(d) The minutes of the last two meetings of the National
Anomaly Committee have not been formally issued.
(e) ‘The Official side Secretary must convene a meeting of the
Staff Side to iron out any difference in the draft minutes.’
(f) Normally meetings are held after circulation
of the ATS. This has not been done.
(g) The Official Side must convey the anguish of the
employees over the delay in the submission of the report by the 7th CPC
which they rightly feel has been engineered by the Government. They also
pointed out that they are constrained to believe that the Govt. was
unnecessarily interfering in the functioning of the Pay Commission.
We give hereunder a brief resume of the discussions held on the agenda items.
After the initial remarks made by the Staff Side all issues in the charter of
demands were discussed. There had been however, no final settlement on
any issue as the meeting itself was not convened for that purpose. The
Staff Side stated that even the promises held out in the last meeting that the
Departmental Council meeting would be held soon was not honoured.
On the question of Pay revision related issues, viz. Interim relief, DA merger,
inclusion of GDS etc . elaborate discussions were held. It has come out
clearly that on all these issues, the Finance Ministry has taken an nugatory
Stand, even though the arguments put forth were extremely untenable. It
was pointed out by the Staff Side that the Interim relief and DA merger was
denied on the specious plea of submission of the report in the stipulated
time. Having extended the time, the Govt. ought to have considered the
grant of these two demands. There had been a very elaborate discussion on
the question of inclusion of the GDS within the purview of the 7th CPC.
The Postal Department’s representatives narrated the efforts made by them to
the Government for conceding this demands. The Finance Ministry has stood
firm and objected to the demand being agreed to. The Staff Side has, in
the given situation of the 7th CPC having finalised its report,
requested the Government to refer the matter to a Judicial Committee headed by
the present Chairman, 7th CPC as he has now been fully apprised
of the functioning of various ministries and Departments of the Government
through the interaction with the Staff and official sides. No
commitment was however made by the Government to the above suggestion.
On the question of induction of FDI in Railways, Corporatisation of Postal
Department and Defence organisations, the representative of the Railway
Ministry stated that they are constantly discussing the issues with the Railway
Federations and was exploring the possibility of reaching an agreement.
In the case of corporatisation of the Postal Department, it was stated that the
recommendations made by the Committee was discussed with the Federations and it
has been agreed that except induction of certain professionals at the
managerial level to fine tune the functioning of the Department in the changed
scenario, the Federations have been assured that no structural changes would be
made without consulting them. However, in the case of Defence, no
discussions with the Federations have been held so far.
PFRDA. The Staff Side pointed out the present scenario in the Government
offices, where the number of employees and officers who are outside the ambit
of the statutory pension scheme has grown and have reached in certain
organisations to the extent of 25 to 30%. These employees are extremely
concerned of the new scheme and their anguish have been expressed in many
forms. The Unions would be compelled to take drastic action if the
Government refuses to heed to their plea to effect a relook or revisit on the
matter. The representatives of the Railways pointed out that the
Honourable Minister for Railways was convinced of the situation and that was
the reason why he had written to the Finance Ministry that in the given
situation of the Railway functioning, the new scheme would not only jeopardise
the interest of the Railwaymen but also of the Railway Industry itself.
On the specific question raised by the Staff side in the last meeting in
respect of resolving the issues of Medical Store Deport and the Printing and
Stationery department, the Staff Side stated that only the meeting of the
Medical Store Depot was held and the issues have been resolved to some
extent. The Printing and Stationery Department has now sent a
communication to the Staff Side fixing the meeting on 15th October
‘15. The general issues emanating from the policy of outsourcing and
contractorisation was also discussed at length
.
JCM functioning had been the central point of discussions. The Staff Side
has pointed out that unless the Government makes up its mind that the machinery
should be put on operation, no industrial peace would come in the functioning
of the various departments of the Govt. of India. The Staff side asked
the Department of personnel to collect the information of the number of cases
litigated in the courts by the Government employees in 1991 and 2015 and make a
comparison to know the seriousness of the problem.
On compassionate ground appointments question, it was stated by the Staff
Side that despite advancing no cogent argument by the official side for
retaining the 5% ceiling, the Department of personnel does not want to
make a relook into the matter. The Staff Side pointed out that large
number of applications were pending in various Departments, and the concerned
department would not be able to clear them even after 20 years for want of the
requisite vacancies. They also pointed out that the decision of the
Government to impose the 5% ceiling was amounting to a cruelty imposed on the
family members of the Government servants who dies in harness.
The Labour Ministry representative was present at the meeting. The meeting did
not discuss the merits and demerits of the labour reforms as the Trade Unions
in the country has rightly concluded that it has been conceived to favour the
corporate houses and to take away the existing privileges of the workers.
The point at issue, however, at the meeting was as to why the Labour Ministry
did not cause a consultation with the Industrial Federations in the Government
of India, for whom the Industrial Disputes Act is applicable. The Labour
Ministry has assured to convene a meeting of the representatives of such
organisations soon.
The Labour Ministry representative also stated that the government has agreed
to raise the bonus ceiling but it would not be appropriate for him to make a
mention of the quantum as the Cabinet is yet to give its clearance. The
Government would be able to take a decision in the matter only after the Bihar
elections are over.
The Staff Side explained the background of the demand for five
promotions. The reaction of the official side was that the matter must be
appropriately discussed only after the 7th CPC report is made available.
