7th Pay Commission Effect – Coal India, Fire Service, Contract Workers demand minimum Rs.18,000 – The first indications of the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission (CPC) triggering demands for salary hike have begun.
The first indications of the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission (CPC) triggering demands for salary hike have begun in right earnest with Coal India Limited (CIL) workers set to join the general strike on September 2. Among the many demands include minimum monthly salary of Rs. 18,000, similar to the one proposed by the 7th CPC and accepted by the Central government employees.
CIL informed about the September 2 strike in a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Saturday morning. The coal workers will be joining other trade unions that have called for a general strike in which about five lakh bank employees are also likely to participate.
Of the 13 demands listed in the charter are hike in minimum monthly salary, halt to disinvestment of public sector undertakings, increased gratuity, discontinue the practice of recruiting people on contract basis and regularise employment of those hired on contractual terms.
“We have received a communication of strike notice dated 19th August 2016 for general strike on 2nd September 2016. Efforts are being made for conciliation process. If they resort to strike, it will affect production and dispatch of coal,” CIL said in its filing with the BSE.
Not lagging behind, sweepers and fire services employees held a march in Sonepet, haryana yesterday under the banner of the Nagarpalika Karamchari Sangh (NKS), Haryana, affiliated to the Sarv Karamchari Sangh.
The protesters were demanding the abolition of the appointment on contract basis and through outsourcing and the benefits of the 7th Pay Commission.
The protesters, led by state NKS president Naresh Kumar Shastri, raised slogans in support of the demands and marched through different areas. They handed over a memorandum of their demands to Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain at her house in Sector 15.
The minister said after the Assembly session, a high-level meeting would be convened in the second week of September to mull over the demands and representatives of the NKS would also be invited. The minister assured them that their legitimate demands would be accepted.
However, Finance Ministry sources indicate, “The demand of central government employees through National Joint Council of Action (NJAC) for hiking minimum pay Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000 may be considered by the National Anomaly Committee but they can do nothing.
“Now, it is generally seen that Public Sector Undertaking employees get less pay than the central government employees and they will demand to hike pay equivalent to central government employees. So, the focus has now shifted to PSUs- whether they would implement a similar pay hike for their employees or not.”
“If they hike pay for their employees, the central government is likely to face difficulty in bearing this extra financial burden. Accordingly, central government employees demand for hiking minimum pay of Rs 18,000 may not be accepted,” they said.
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