WHY CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES GO ON NATION WIDE ONE
DAY STRIKE ON
8th JANUARY,
2020
I. Background:
The return
of the NDA Government, in the aftermath of 17th Lok Sabha election with larger
and decisive mandate poses a big challenge for the entire working class
movement. The Government which proved its commitment to the big
corporate business houses, international finance and imperialism is more
aggressive and brutal this time. The hell-bent move for
privatisation of resource-rich as well as asset-rich public sector undertakings
including Bharat Petroleum Company Ltd. (BPCL), Airports etc. massive outsourcing,
aggressive corporatisation of Railway Production Units, major ports, and
Ordnance Factories, closure of Government of India Printing Presses and Railway
Printing Presses, complete deregulation of mining sector, handing over oil
fields with huge investment for private exploration, legally writing off of
major part of huge default of Corporates of around ten lakh crore rupees,
concessions in direct taxes to the corporates to the tune of 5.84 lakh crore in
the last five years, aggressive labour law reforms to impose conditions of
slavery on the working people, facilitating expropriation of national assets
and resources including land by the private corporate lobby, are some of the
examples of this “big bang” pro-corporate and anti-people, anti-working class
reforms. Government has made it clear that more reforms are in the
pipeline.
National
economy is pushed towards a greater disaster, towards perpetual dependence on
international finance capital and imperialist powers. Country’s
economy has been slipping into continuous slow down with virtual stagnation in
employment generation. Unemployment rate in the country has been
sky-rocketed to a 45 years high. Domestic markets, both industrial
,and consumer, are squeezed because of declining demand and consumption level
owing to deepening impoverishment of the common people. The
manufacturing sector is at its lowest. Job losses due to closure of
industries and sales-outlets and also due to deep slump in automobile and
construction sector is alarming. Income inequality and disparity
between rich and poor has taken to an obscene level. Multiplication
of the landless, hapless rural proletariat is taking place in a big way.
The
crisis in the economy has put the mass of the populace across the sector in
tremendous sufferings and they are coming out in protest through various
agitations, actions and mobilisation all over the country. The
ruling class is getting increasingly intolerant to democratic expression of the
masses. To divert people’s attention from the real cause of their
sufferings, the ruling class is resorted to aggressive divisive machination and
communal polarisation.
Therefore,
the challenge is much bigger before us, but it is not
insurmountable. The most crucial task before us, therefore is to
further widen the unity of the working class movement and heighten the struggle
towards offensive intervention. This broadest alliance is to be
built up on the premise of uncompromising battle against neo-liberalism and its
socio-economic and political instrumentalities. Central
Government employees have a rich history and legacy of heroic struggles and
sacrifices right from the colonial days. That rich history which we
proudly inherit will inspire and give us confidence to unitedly confront and
combat. We will definitely overcome.
II. Confederation and 10
points charter of demands:
Confederation
of Central Government Employees and Workers is the class-oriented militant
trade union of the Central Government employees including Gramin Dak sevaks and
Casual/Contract workers. Confederation always stood with the
mainstream of the working class of India. Confederation is a
constituent of the united platform of all Central Trade Unions (excluding BMS)
and independent Federations. Confederation National Secretariat has unanimously
decided to join the 8th January 2020 nationwide General strike in which about
20 crores workers of organised and unorganised sectors are expected to
participate. Strike notice will be served to the Government and to
all Departmental heads by Confederation CHQ and all affiliated
Federations/Unions/Associations on 12th December 2019 with massive
demonstrations and gate meetings. The following are the demands
included in the 10 points charter of demands of Confederation.
1. Scrap
New Contributory Pension Scheme (NPS) and restore Defined benefit Old Pension
Scheme (OPS) to all employees who joined service on or after
0-01-2004. Guarantee 50% of the last pay drawn as Minimum Pension.
Government
of India has implemented New Contributory Pension Scheme (NPS) for all Central
Govt. employees entering service on or after 01-01-2004. The monthly pension
amount being received under the Insurance Annuity Scheme under NPS varied from
Rs.700 to Rs.3000/- per month, to those NPS employees who had already retired
from service during 2018 and 2019, after completing 14 to 15 years of service,
whereas as per the Old Pension Scheme an employee who completes minimum ten
years qualifying service will get 50% of the last pay drawn as Minimum Pension
which in any case will not be less than Rs.9,000/- for a lowest level employee
with ten years service in Central service. In effect the “New
Pension Scheme” (NPS) has become a “No Pension Scheme (NPS). Thus the very
principle laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India that “Pension is
a social welfare measure rendering socio-economic justice to those, who in the
hey day of their life ceaselessly toiled for the employer on an assurance that
in their old age, they would not be left in lurch”, stands
defeated. 10% of pay plus DA is recovered as monthly contribution
fron NPS employees. After retirement they will not get any Dearness
Relief, No Pension revision at the time of wage revision by Pay Commissions, No
GPF but only voluntarily deposit in Tier-II account, No family pension on death
after retirement, Pension not paid by Government but insurance companies are
paying based on Annuity Insurance Scheme to be opted by the NPS employee and No
additional pensions on attaining the age of 80 years or above. As
per PFRDA Act there is no implicit or explicit guarantee by the Government
regarding Pension. By discriminating between the Central Government employees who
joined service before 01-01-2004 and after 01-01-2004, the Government has
created a “class within the class”.
Further
there are provisions in the PERDA Act to bring under the purview of Pension
Fund, the existing OPS employees and also Pensioners through a Gazette
notification. Seventh Central Pay Commission headed by Retired
Justice of Supreme Court Shri. Ashok Kumar Mathur, in its report made the
following observations about NPS:
“Almost
a whole lot of Government employees appointed on or after 01-01-2004, were
unhappy with the New Pension Scheme. Government should take a call to look into
their grievances”.
Govt.
appointed a Secretary level committee called “NPS Committee” for streamlining
the NPS, but that committee was not mandated to look into the main demand of
the NPS employees ie; scrap NPS, restore OPS and guarantee 50% of the last pay
drawn as monthly pension. It is true that as per the recommendations
of the NPS Committee, Govt’s. contribution to NPS is increased to 14% from 10%
and some other cosmetic changes are also made in the NPS Rules. But
the basic grievance still remained unattended and unsettled, as a result uncertainty
about the social security and Pension looms large over the head of every NPS
employee and the discontentment among the NPS employees (as correctly observed
by 7th CPC) is growing day by day. We demand that NPS should be
scrapped and OPS should be restored and at least 50% of the last pay drawn
should be guaranteed as Minimum monthly Pension on retirement.
2. Honour
the assurances given by Group of Ministers on 30-06-2016 to National Council
(JCM) Standing Committee members regarding increase in Minimum Pay and fitment
factor recommended by Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC):
All the
Federations/Unions/Associations in the Central Govt. Employees sector including
Railways, Defence and Confederation had given a call for nationwide indefinite
strike from 11th July 2016, demanding increase in Minimum Pay and Fitment
formula recommended by Seventh CPC and other 7th CPC related
issues. A goup of Cabinet Ministers including Shri. Rajnath Singh,
then Home Minister, Shri. Arun Jaitley, then Finance Minister, Shri. Suresh
Prabhu, then Railway Minister discussed the demands with the leaders of
National Joint Council of Action (NJCA) and assured that Minimum Pay and
Fitment formula will be increased and a High Level Committee will be appointed
to submit recommendations in this regard. The assurances were
reiterated by Shri. Rajnath Singh, then Home Minister on 6th July 2016 in the
second round of discussion and Finance Ministry issued a press statement
confirming the assurances. Accordingly, the proposed indefinite
strike call of the NJCA was deferred, taking in good faith the assurances given
by the Group of Ministers. Even after a lapse of three years,
neither the promised High Level Committee is constituted by the Govt. nor the
Minimum Pay and fitment formula is increased. The entire employees
and Pensioners are betrayed. We demand the Government to take
immediate necessary action for implementing the assurances given by the Group
of Ministers.
3. Grant
“Option-I Parity” recommended by the 7th CPC to all Central Government
Pensioners.
7th CPC has
recommended a new formula called “Option-1” for refixing the existing pension
of Central Government Pensioners retired prior to 01-01-2016. Government
accepted the recommendation in principle and constituted a Secretary
level committee to examine and recommend regarding the feasibility of
implementing ''option-1'' recommended by 7th CPC. The Committee was not, ready
to heed the valid and scientific pleadings made by the staffside in
favour of the recommendation made by 7th CPC which is an ''Expert Body'' headed
by retired Justice of Supreme Court, instead viewed the case with a
closed mind and gave recommendation to the Government that implementation of
Option-I is not feasible. Govt accepted the recommendations of the Secretary
Level Committee and rejected ''option-I'' recommended by 7th CPC.
The
entire Pension community is very much aggrieved of the decision of the
Government. We demand the Government to review the case dispassionately, so
that the ''option-I parity'' recommended by the 7th CPC will be accepted and
implemented
4. Regularisation
of Gramin Dak Sevaks working in Postal Department and casual/contract workers
working in all Central Govt Establishments.
(a) About
2.76 lakhs Gramin Dak Sevaks are employed in the Postal Department. Govt.
appointed a one man committee headed by retired Postal Board Member Shri
Kamalesh Chandra, to examine their wages and service conditions. The
final report submitted by the Committee includes certain positive
recommendations. As abnormal delay took place in implementing the
recommendations of the Committee, the entire Gramin Dak Sevaks went on
indefinite strike for 16 days in 2018. Finally Govt issued orders, but some of
the recommendations are either modified, diluted or rejected, including payment
of arrears from 01-01-2016 as per the formula recommended by the
Committee. We demand the Government to regularise the services of
Gramin Dak Sevaks and also implementation of the pending positive
recommendations of the Kamalesh Chandra Committee report.
(b) There
are thousands of causal/contract employees and workers engaged in all Central
Govt departments and working for years together. They are not paid equal wages
and not extended any benefits of regular employees. Even after working for more
than ten years continuously, their request for regularisation is not considered
favourably. There is no scheme to absorb them in regular service. We demand the
Government to workout and implement a scheme to regularise all casual/contract
workers including Part-time, Contingent employees and daily rated mazdoors and
extend them all the benefits of regular employees.
5. Stop Corporatisation/Privatisation of Railways, Defence
and Postal Departments. Withdraw the orders for closure/reorganisation of Govt.
of India Printing Presses, Geological Survey of India (GSI), Central Public
Works Department (CPWD), Salt Department, Stationery Offices etc.
The
no holds barred big bang reforms unleashed by the Central Government has given
rise to an alarming situation in the Central Government Departments. The
proposed move to Corporatize Railway Production Centres and allowing private
passenger trains, Corporatisation of Defence Ordinance Factories, Life
Insurance and Parcel Sector of Postal department, closure of Govt. of India
Printing Presses, proposed reorganisation of Salt Department, Geological Survey
of India (GSI), Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Stationary Offices etc.
has put in danger the very existence of various Central Govt. Departments and
also the job security of lakhs of Central Govt. Employees, Gramin
Dak Sevaks and Casual/Contract Workers. The present fate of the
Telecom Department which was corporatized in 2000 into different companies is a
bitter lesson for all. We demand the Government to desist from the
proposed move to corporatisation, privatisation, closure and reorganisation of
Central Govt. departments.
6. Filling
up of seven lakhs vacancies existing in various Central Govt. Departments:
As
per the 7th CPC report (Annexure to Chapter-3) there are 7,47,171
vacancies in the Central Govt. Departments as on 01-01-2014. More
retirements has taken place after 01-01-2014 and now the figure may go upto 8
lakhs. During the period from 2001 to 2008, thousands of posts are abolished in
all Departments as per the downsizing orders issued by the NDA Government in
2001. Only very few posts are filled up after 2014 and most of the
Departments are running with 30 to 40% shortage of manpower. This
has resulted in heavy increase in workload on the existing employees and has
adversely affected the efficiency of all Central Govt. Departments to a great
extent. We demand the Government to take immediate necessary action
for filling up all vacant posts in all departments of Central Government.
7. Revision
of Wages from 01-01-2016 and payment of arrears of pay and Bonus from 2016
onwards to the employees of Autonomous bodies:
Due
to the stringent conditions imposed by the Finance Ministry, the pay revision
from 01-01-2016 and payment of arrears is still pending in most of the
Autonomous bodies under Central Government. Further they are denied Bonus from
2015-16 onwards. We demand the Government to take necessary action
to redress the long pending genuine grievances of the Autonomous body
employees.
There
are other issues also which is already submitted to the Government and the
Heads of various Ministries/Departments which are listed in the enclosed
Charter of Demands.
Confederation
National Secretariat request each and every Central Government Employee to propagate
the above genuine demands by all means among the entirety of Central Government
Employees. We also request all Central Government Employees
including Gramin Dak Sevaks and Casual/Contract Workers, to whole heartedly
participate in the strike on 8th January 2020 and make the strike a thundering
success in the Central Government Employees sector.
Organise, if
you want to survive,
Organise, if
you want to ensure job security
Organise, if
you want to ensure better wages,
Organise, if
you want your Pension to be protected,
Organise, if
you want your Trade Union Rights to remain.
STRIKE....... STRIKE....... STRIKE....... STRIKE.......
INQUILAB
ZINDANAD
JANUARY
8TH ZINDABAD
ALL
INDIA STRIKE ZINDABAD
With
struggle greetings,
Yours
faithfully,
Secretary
General,
Confederation.
Mob:
09447068125
Email:
mkrishnan6854@gmail.com
10 POINTS CHARTER OF DEMANDS OF CONFEDERATION
1. Scrap
New Contributory Pension scheme (NPS). Restore Old defined
benefit Pension Scheme (OPS) to all employees. Guarantee 50% of the
last pay drawn as Minimum Pension.
2. Honour
assurance given by Group of Ministers (GoM) to NJCA leaders on
30-06-2016. Increase Minimum Pay and Fitment
formula. Withdraw the proposed move to modify the existing
time-tested methodology for calculation of Minimum wage. Grant HRA
arrears from 01-01-2016. Withdraw “Very Good” bench mark for
MACP, Grant promotional heirarchy and date of effect from
01-01-2006. Grant Option-I parity recommended by 7th CPC to all
Central Govt. Pensioners. Settle all anomalies
arising out of 7th CPC implementation.
3. Stop
corporatisation/privatisation of Railways, Defence and Postal
Departments. Withdraw closure orders of Govt. of India Printing
Presses. Stop proposed move to close down Salt
Department. Stop closure of Govt. establishments and outsourcing.
4. Fill
up all six lakhs vacant posts in the Central Government Departments in a time
bound manner. Reintroduce Regional Recruitment for Group B & C
posts.
5. (a) Regularisation
of Gramin Dak Sevaks and grant of Civil servant status. Implement
remaining positive recommendations of Kamalesh Chandra Committee report.
(b) Regularise
all casual and contract workers including those joined on or after 01-09-1993.
6. Ensure
equal pay for equal work for all. Remove disparity in pay scales
between Central Secretariat staff and similarly placed staff working in field
units of various departments.
7. Implement
7th CPC Wage Revision and Pension revision of remaining Autonomous
bodies. Ensure payment of arrears without further
delay. Grant Bonus to Autonomous body employees pending from 2016-17
onwards.
8. Remove
5% condition imposed on compassionate appointments. Grant
appointment in all eligible cases.
9. Grant
five time bound promotions to all Group B & C employees. Complete Cadre Review
in all departments within a time-frame.
10. (a) Withdraw
the anti-worker wage/labour codes and other anti-worker Labour
reforms. Stop attack on trade union rights. Ensure prompt
functioning of various negotiating forums under the JCM Scheme at all levels.
(b) Withdraw
the draconian FR 56 (j) and Rule 48 of CCS (Pension Rules 1972.
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