Brief Note on JCM National Council Standing Committee Meeting held on 9th October 2015 at New Delhi.
Dear Comrades,
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 9th October,
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
justifyly 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 justify 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.
Source: Confederation News
