Source : http://utilities.cept.gov.in/dop/pdfbind.ashx?id=5677
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
What about the assurances for revision of minimum wage?
Courtesy : The Pioneer , Dated 30.06.2021
What about the assurances for revision of minimum wage?
Author : BRURUHASPATI SAMAL
The Central
Government has declared unilateral implementation of the recommendations of 7th
Central Pay Commission (CPC) without any modifications through a Cabinet
decision on June 29, 2016. This was done, despite repeated correspondences with
the Prime Minister, Cabinet Secretary and Secretary DoPT and several rounds of
country wide agitational programmes including serving of notice to go for
nationwide indefinite strike.
The employees have expressed their serious resentment for wrong interpretation
and implementation of Dr Aykroyd Formula approved by the Supreme Court of India
to determine the minimum need-based wage which was fixed by the CPC at Rs
18,000 instead of Rs 26,000 as demanded.
In addition, abolition of 52 allowances, merger of 36 allowances with Pay,
decrease in percentage of the house rent allowance, no change in annual
increment / financial upgradations / casual and maternity leave even after a
gap of ten years, 20% decrease in pay in the 2nd year of Child Care leave etc.
were some of the negative recommendations of the 7th CPC.
The CPC also ignored the demands of the staff side for revision of minimum wage
at 3.7 multiplying factor, 5% annual increment, 5 promotions during the entire
service career of an employee etc and above all the understanding in between
the staff side and Secretary, DoPT for implementation of the recommendations
from 01.01.2014.
Moreover, both the CPC and the Government avoided the demands of as many as 3
lakh Gramin Dak Sewaks and lakhs of casual and contract workers working in the
Central Government establishment. However, due to the strong protest by NJCA,
the then Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, as per direction of the Prime
Minister held discussions with the NJCA leaders on June 30, 2016 in the
presence of Finance Minister Arun Jaitly and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.
The National Joint Council of Action (NJCA), is a united forum of more than 120
independent organizations comprising Confederation of Central Government
Employees and Workers along with Railway and Defence Federations.
After hours of discussions on the demands with particular reference to revision
in minimum wage and Fitment Formula, the group of Cabinet Ministers, without
any written minutes or communications just verbally assured that a high-level
committee would be appointed to consider the issues raised by the NJCA which
prompted the NJCA to go for nationwide Indefinite Strike from July 11, 2016 as
notified earlier. Country wide demonstrations were held daily in front of all
offices and at all important centres.
On July 6, 2016 when the NJCA meeting was in progress on the preparations of
the proposed nationwide strike, the then Home Minister Rajnath Singh again
invited the NJCA leaders for discussion in the presence of Finance, Railway and
Communication Ministers.
After hours of discussion with 17 staff representatives of the NJCA, the group
of Ministers reiterated the earlier assurances of the Government basing on
which the proposed indefinite strike commencing July 11, 2016 was deferred. However,
while answering to the Unstarred Question No. 1170 put in this regard in Rajya
Sabha, the then Union Finance Minister (State) P Radhakrishnan replied on March
6, 2018 in contradiction to the written assurances of a group of Cabinet
Ministers.
He said, “The minimum pay of Rs 18,000 pm and fitment factor of 2.57 are based
on the specific recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission in the light
of the relevant factors taken into account by it. Therefore, no change therein
is at present under consideration”. In the meantime, more than 5 years have
passed. No action has yet been taken either to constitute the proposed
committee nor to have a negotiation with the staff side representatives.
The Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers has already gone
twice for one-day nationwide strike on January 8, 2020 and November 26, 2020
reminding the Central Government of the the discussions and assurances of June
30, 2016 and July 6, 2016 along with demand for 5 years wage revision like banks,
insurance and PSUs. But adding salt to the injury, the Central Government has
frozen the Dearness Allowance of the employees for 18 months from January 1,
2020 to June 30, 2021 on the plea of Covid-19 pandemic management which is a
strong kick of gross injustice on the bread and butter of the employees who are
now working in tandem with the Government, administration and the people of the
country to fight against Corona. If the written assurances are not kept and DA
is not restored immediately, the Confederation and NJCA may once again take a
strong decision to go for nationwide agitation culminating to indefinite
strike.
(The writer is all India organising general secretary, National Federation of
Postal Employees-P-III)
Withdrawal of 3% fitment allowed to officials already granted MACPS on their promotion to Inspector Posts
World Postal News
1 POSTAL
NEWSNo 49-2021 Formulated by UNI Apro Post and Logistics
Sector1.FedEx to add freighters and boost spending to meet demand. June 25,
2021.2.Poste Italiane opens e-commerce sorting hub. June 24, 2021.3.New and
Expanded Financial Services Coming to Canada Post. June 24, 2021.4.Sign For Me,
the new free bpost service that makes it easier for addressees to receive
registered mail, even when they are not at home. June 23, 2021.5.Letterbox
sensor plan delivers success in Jersey Post contest.June 20, 2021.1.FedEx to
add freighters and boost spending to meet demand June 25, 2021 FedEx will boost
spending over the coming year and add more freighter orders to meet growing
e-commerce demand.Announcing its results full-year results for fiscal year
ended May 31, the express giant said it expected to spend around $7.2bn in FY
2022 compared with around $5.9bn last year.Meanwhile, FedEx will exercise
options to purchase 20 additional B767Fs, 10 for delivery in fiscal year 2024
and 10 for delivery in fiscal year 2025.The investments will also include 16
new automated facilities and the implementation of nearly 100 expansion
projects at its ground division. “To handle future ground volumes, we are
significantly increasing capacity to deliver both, great service and improved
financial results,” chairman and chief executive Fred Smith said.“This summer,
we are intently focused on improving network and delivery operations prior to the
volume surge in the fallLooking to the air cargo market, FedEx said that trade
volumes have surpassed pre-pandemic levels and are on course for the fastest
year of growth in over a decade.It said that global air cargo capacity remained
down 10% year-on-year in April as a result of lower bellyhold capacity. FedEx
expects air cargo capacity to remain constrained at least in the first half
year and capacity recovery to be slow and possibly episodic. A full recovery is
not anticipated until 2024. The company also believes that “favourable” pricing
internationally should continue through fiscal year 2022. It will manage
international demand through yield management and peak surcharges, especially
on transpacific and transatlantic lanes. Currently it is seeing a “very good
capture rate” on surcharges. Last fiscal year, the company saw revenues
increase to $84bn from $69.2bn the prior year and operating income was a $5.9bn
against $2.4bn. In its fourth quarter, revenues stood at $22.6bn against
$17.4bn in the prior year and operating income was $1.8bn compared with $475m
12 months earlier.“Fourth quarter operating results increased primarily due to
volume growth and disciplined revenue and portfolio management,” the company
said. “These factors were partially offset by costs to support strong demand,
increased variable compensation expense, and higher labour rates.”FedEx Express
fourth quarter operating income more than doubled year over year, driven by
exceptional growth in international export and US domestic package services. 3
FedEx Ground reported record earnings for the quarter and revenue growth of
27%. The revenue increase was primarily driven by strong growth in
business-to-business shipments and a 14% rise in revenue per package.FedEx
Freight reported record earnings and operating margin of 16.1% for the quarter,
as average daily shipments grew 30% and revenue per shipment increased
6%.Source : https://www.aircargonews.net/airlines2.Poste Italiane opens
e-commerce sorting hub June 24, 2021 Italian postal service Poste Italiane has
opened a logistics hub in Landriano, which it says is the largest in Europe for
e-commerce and express courier services. The facility covers a total area of
80,000m2 , and its 600 employees can process up to 300,000 parcels per day. The
hub is equipped with an advanced automatic sorting system, augmented by 17
robots. Furthermore, 2,500 photovoltaic panels have been installed on the roof,
which generate electricity capable of covering 80% of the plant’s consumption,
reducing annual CO2 emissions by 210 tons. Poste Italiane says it has invested
a total of €60m (US$72m) in the construction of the hub. Source :
https://www.parcelandpostaltechnologyinternational.com/news/e-commerce 3.New
and Expanded Financial Services Coming to Canada PostJune 24, 2021 The members
of Appendix “T” (Service Expansion, Innovation and Change Committee) are happy
to announce that Canada Post has confirmed concrete plans.4 to launch a market
test for new and expanded financial services with a financial partner in the
fall of this year.Beginning in September and October, alongside financial
services currently offered at Canada Post, a new service will be piloted at
retail counters in both major market locations and rural communities with the
goal of testing customer response. If this project is successful, there is a
possibility that this new financial service will be rolled out across Canada
Post’s network in the future. Pilot project locations will include CUPW and
CPAA retail counters in a number of locations.In the coming days, Appendix “T”
is looking forward to sharing more information, including:•The new financial
service that will be offered;•The exact location and number of pilot project
locations involved in the market test;•The name of the financial partner
working with Canada Post.A win for postal workers!The introduction of a new
financial service and these pilot projects represent a real win for our union
and its decade-long campaign for postal banking. Postal workers can take pride
in knowing their efforts are paying off and that the“struggle for financial
inclusion for everyone continues”.Source : https://www.cupw.ca/en4.Sign For Me,
the new free bpost service that makes it easier for addressees to receive
registered mail, even when they are not at home June 23, 2021 bpost is
launching a free service across the country that saves customers time. With
Sign For Me, they can receive registered items straight away in the letterbox
at home, even if they are not present.They simply give a power of attorney to
bpost at a post office or postal point. No more waiting, stress, going to a
pick-up point, queues and parking problems!More customer-friendly processFor
registered mail, the addressee must sign when it is accepted. If the addressee
is not at home, the postman puts a message in the letterbox. That message
states the post office where the shipment can be picked up within 15 days.
bpost works every day to improve the customer experience, including for
receiving registered mail. You can now give bpost and therefore the postman
permission to have5 registered items, or most of them, delivered directly to
the letterbox without the items losing their legal value. All you have to do is
sign up for that service with your identity card at a post office or postal point.
You will then receive a confirmation email asking you to validate your
registration. This service is only available to private individualsfrom the
beginning of August 2021 in all post offices and postal points of the country.
Soon you will also be able to register via the My bpost app, which will now
allow you to track all your parcels and registered items.Attention! Certain
registered items may not be put in the letterbox. The postman will still ring
the bell for registered items with acknowledgment of receipt (including court
letters), because the signature of the addressee is still required.In addition,
Sign For Me is also not valid for registered mail with customs charges, for
which an amount must be paid, for registered voting papers, registered mail
with a declared value and registered mail that is too large for the letterbox.
Even if the letterbox does not conform and is not sufficiently secure,
registered mail may not be delivered.Signature required without power of
attorneyIn March 2020, in order to comply with social distancing and limit
contact during the corona crisis, bpost changed the process for the delivery
of, among other things, registered mail, parcels and pensions. For shipments
requiring a signature on delivery, the postman was allowed to sign in the
customer's place, provided the customer was present. Now that the health
situation has improved and the government has decided to gradually return to
normal life, these temporary measures are coming to an end. From 1 July 2021,
addressees must again sign themselves on the postman's device in order to
receive their sent shipment in a secure manner. Unless they sign up for the new
Sign For Me service.Source : https://press.bpost.be/
UNI Apro Post & Logistics6 5.Letterbox sensor plan delivers success in Jersey Post contestJune 20, 2021Students have been awarded for their vision to put letter-counting sensors on each of the island’s postboxes to help local posties reduce their daily travel times.Over the past 12 weeks, Key Stage 4 students from Les Quennevais, Victoria College, Jersey College for Girls and Beaulieu had been developing digital prototypes using Internet of Things (IoT) technology as part of Jersey’s Post ‘Postbox Challenge’.The goal was to come up innovative digital solutions which would help eliminate unnecessary daily journeys for postal workers to 120 potentially empty postboxes across the island.The students were asked to design a solution which would enable Jersey Post to know which postboxes contain mail and which do not.They presented their designs on 9 June to a panel of industry experts that included Tim Brown, Chief Executive Officer at Jersey Post; Professor Andy Stanford-Clark, Chief Technology Officer at IBM UK; Alexia McClure, Chief Operating Officer at Jersey Business and Alexa Munn, Head of Governance at Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) at the Government of Jersey.The winning team of Victoria College Year 10 students created a “well thought out” digital sensor able to count the number of items landing in a postbox. They presented a complete and functional workflow, from posting a letter to a user interface for postal workers. The team also included a worked analysis of power consumption and had a fully costed bill for materials, and understood the manufacturing/mass production process.
UNI Apro Post & Logistics7 Thomas Waller was nominated for being the team's driving force and received the ‘Superstar Award’.The team will now be invited to the Digital Jersey Hub to polish their prototype so that it can be implemented in local postboxes. Students from the college’s Year 11 clas were runners up with a “good functional prototype”, covering the complete workflow from posting to monitoring.Les Quennevais Year 10 students received the Design Award after demonstrating “mastery of industrial design principles” in their design processes from creative artwork to the quality functional CAD model. They also received an ‘Honourable Mention’ for creating an application to survey postboxes, which exemplified “the important design principle of fully understanding the problem before designing the solution”. Jemma Harding (Beaulieu), Eathan Soar (Les Quennevais) and Taylor Clark (Jersey College for Girls) were all recognised as ‘Shining Stars’."We are continuously looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint, and this challenge was a brilliant way to involve students and promote a technological career at the same time,” Mr Brown said. “The students made a tremendous effort in coming up with some great designs that could save Jersey Post time and resource. A huge well done to each student that took part."Deputy Scott Wickenden, the Assistant Minister for Education, congratulated the winning team as well as participants. “It’s fantastic to see students using their digital knowledge to develop solutions to real-world problems.”Source : https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/jsy/news/
[POSTAL NEWS from UNI Apro P&L] No. 49 & 50/2021
Director of UNI Apro Post&Logistics <uniapropostandlogistics@gmail.com>
Wed 6/30/2021 4:36 AM
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