The Central Government Wednesday assured representatives of employee
unions to look into the issues raised by them, following the
implementation of the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations.
Seeking better pay and higher allowances, at least 33 lakh central government employees threatened to go on strike on July 11.
The union members expressed unhappiness over the Government’s decision
to increase the minimum pay to just Rs 18,000. They are currently
demanding that the pay be raised to at least Rs 26,000 at a fitment
formula of 3.68.
High Level Committee to review 7th Pay Commission recommendations
The government on its part has setup a High Level Committee to review
the demands. The employees are also demanding withdrawal of the new
national pension scheme (NPS), which came into effect from October 2004.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the recommendations of the Pay
Commission, various central government employees’ unions have threatened
to go on an indefinite strike from July 11.
Earlier in the day, representatives of various unions met Home Minister
Rajnath Singh for deliberations over their concerns after which the
government termed the talks as “positive”.
On 06.07.2016 unions met second time with the government on the issue.
Earlier, they had met the Group of Ministers chaired by Singh on June
30. The GoM includes Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Railway Minister
Suresh Prabhu.
The Unions had asked the government to set up a committee to look into
issues raised by them in relation to the pay scales and other
recommendations of the Pay Commission.
“The Ministers assured the Union leaders that the issues raised by them
would be considered by a High Level Committee,” the Finance ministry
said in a statement late in the evening.
The National Joint Council of Action (NJCA) of central government
employees’ unions including Railways, Post and Telegraph and Defence
have announced an indefinite strike from July 11 against the
“unilateral” announcement of the Central government on implementation of
7th Pay Commission’s awards.
A number of employees’ unions have extended support to the proposed strike call by NJCA.
The unions have said the recommended pay hike was the lowest in the last
70 years. They have also accused the government of announcing the
awards “unilaterally” without any consultation with them.
The Central Trade Unions will be meeting tomorrow to chalk out an action
plan and express their solidarity with the government employees.
RSS affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and other trade unions have
rejected the recommendations, contending that it would increase
disparity between the minimum and maximum pay.
Maintaining that the government has “disappointed” the employees, BMS
has announced country-wide protests on July 8 against the decision and
warned implementation of the 7th pay commission’s recommendations may
lead to industrial unrest.
