7th CPC: Unions reject Centre's pay hike, threaten to go on strike

NEW DELHI: The Confederation of Central Government Employees on Wednesday rejected the pay hike announced by the government and threatened to go on a strike next week, a decision which got support from the central trade unions.
The Confederation said the pay hike approved by the Cabinet on the 7th Central Pay Commission’s recommendations is “not acceptable”.
RSS affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and other trade unions also rejected the hike, saying this is the lowest increase in the past 17 years that would increase disparity between the minimum and maximum pay.
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Central trade unions have also sided with government employees and have given a call to hold nationwide demonstrations against the pay hike.
“In the prevailing economic conditions, the proposed hike as per the Pay Commission is inadequate. It is not acceptable to us,” M Duraipandian, General Secretary, Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers, Tamil Nadu, said.
He added the Confederation will be forced to advance the indefinite strike call to July 4 instead of July 11, if the government does not heed to its demand of revising the hike.
Earlier in the day, its members staged a demonstration at Rajaji Bhavan in Chennai, home to several state government’s offices.
All India Trade Union Congress Secretary D L Sachdev said: “It is the lowest increase in last 17 years. Central trade unions will support the strike call given by central government employees.”
While, BMS said it will organise country-wide protests on July 8 against the decision, adding the government has “disappointed” the employees and it may lead to industrial unrest.
“The formula should be 3.42 instead of 2.57 as approved by the government. Similarly the annual increment should be 5 per cent instead of 3 per cent given. The disparity between the minimum and maximum pay has also been increased,” BMS General Secretary Virjesh Upadhyay said.
In a statement, he said the Sangh will organise protests across the country in all districts on July 8 and will discuss on the alternative of going on a strike at its national executive in August.
BMS also demanded for a uniform minimum pay of Rs 18,000 per month to all the workers including the private sector.

The BJP-led NDA government on Wednesday announced an overall increase of 23.5 per cent for over one crore government employees and pensioners in line with the Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations, which left most services dissatisfied. The hikes will come with the August paychecks and be paid with effect from January 1, 2016. The arrears for the six months will be disbursed during the current financial year (2016-17) itself.

In November 2015, within the overall hike of 23.55-per cent, the pay panel had recommended increases of 16% in pay and 24 per cent in pensions. The starting salary for new recruits at the lowest level has been raised to Rs. 18,000 from Rs. 7,000 per month. Freshly recruited Class I officers will receive Rs. 56,100. This reflects a compression ratio of 1:3.12 signifying that the pay of a Class I officer on direct recruitment will be three times the pay of an entrant at the lowest level.

The approved maximum pay, drawn by the Cabinet Secretary, is Rs. 2.5 lakh per month (against the current Rs. 90,000), higher than the salaries drawn by MPs.

To examine the concerns employees have raised, the Union Cabinet decided to set up four committees: The first will look into the implementation issues anticipated and the second one will go into the likely anomalies. Another one will further examine the recommendations on allowances, which have largely been kept on hold. The fourth will suggest measures for streamlining the National Pension System.

Nod for new pay matrix

The Union Cabinet dispensed with the present system of pay bands and grade pay and okayed a new pay matrix as recommended by the Pay Commission.

Employee status, hitherto determined by grade pay, will now be determined by the level in the pay matrix. Separate pay matrices have been drawn up for civilians, defence personnel and for Military Nursing Service with all existing levels subsumed in the new structure; no new levels have been introduced nor has any level been dispensed with.

Gratuity ceiling raised

The gratuity ceiling stands enhanced from Rs. 10 lakh to 20 lakh. The ceiling on gratuity will increase by 25 per cent whenever dearness allowance rises by 50 per cent.

The Cabinet also approved the recommendation of the commission to enhance the ceiling of house building advance from Rs. 7.5 lakh to Rs. 25 lakh. All but four interest-free advances have been abolished

“The fifth and sixth pay commissions had narrowed the gap between salaries paid in the private and government sectors…the seventh has moved further in the same direction. An IIM-Ahmedabad study has found that pay in the government sector is distinctly greater than that in the private sector so there can’t be protests from employees,” said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Cabinet approves Implementation of the recommendations of 7th Central Pay Commission

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the implementation of the recommendations of 7^th Central Pay Commission (CPC) on pay and pensionary benefits.   It will come into effect from 01.01.2016.

In the past, the employees had to wait for 19 months for the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations at the time of 5^th CPC, and for 32 months at the time of implementation of 6^th CPC.  However, this time, 7^th CPC recommendations are being implemented within 6 months from the due date.

The Cabinet has also decided that arrears of pay and pensionary benefits will be paid during the current financial year (2016-17) itself, unlike in the past when parts of arrears were paid in the next financial year. 

The recommendations will benefit over 1 crore employees. This includes over 47 lakh central government employees and 53 lakh pensioners, of which 14 lakh employees and 18 lakh pensioners are from the defence forces.

Highlights:

1.            The present system of Pay Bands and Grade Pay has been dispensed with and a new Pay Matrix as recommended by the Commission has been approved. The status of the employee, hitherto determined by grade pay, will now be determined by the level in the Pay Matrix. Separate Pay Matrices have been drawn up for Civilians, Defence Personnel and for Military Nursing Service. The principle and rationale behind these matrices are the same.

2.            All existing levels have been subsumed in the new structure; no new levels have been introduced nor has any level been dispensed with. Index of Rationalisation has been approved for arriving at minimum pay in each Level of the Pay Matrix depending upon the increasing role, responsibility and accountability at each step in the hierarchy.

3.            The minimum pay has been increased from Rs.  7000 to 18000 p.m.  Starting salary of a newly recruited employee at lowest level will now be Rs.  18000 whereas for a freshly recruited Class I officer, it will be Rs.  56100.  This reflects a compression ratio of 1:3.12 signifying that pay of a Class I officer on direct recruitment will be three times the pay of an entrant at lowest level.

4.            For the purpose of revision of pay and pension, a fitment factor of 2.57 will be applied across all Levels in the Pay Matrices.

5.            Rate of increment has been retained at 3 %. This will benefit the employees in future on account of higher basic pay as the annual increments that they earn in future will be 2.57 times than at present.

6.            The Cabinet approved further improvements in the Defence Pay Matrix by enhancing Index of Rationalisation for Level 13A (Brigadier) and providing for additional stages in Level 12A (Lieutenant Colonel), 13 (Colonel) and 13A (Brigadier) in order to bring parity with Combined Armed Police Forces (CAPF) counterparts at the maximum of the respective Levels.

7.            Some other decisions impacting the employees including Defence & Combined Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel include :

·               Gratuity ceiling enhanced from Rs.  10 to 20 lakh. The ceiling on gratuity will increase by 25 % whenever DA rises by 50 %.

·               A common regime for payment of Ex-gratia lump sum compensation for civil and defence forces personnel payable to Next of Kin with the existing rates enhanced from Rs. 10-20 lakh to 25-45 lakh for different categories.

·               Rates of Military Service Pay revised from Rs.  1000, 2000, 4200 & 6000 to 3600, 5200, 10800 & 15500 respectively for various categories of Defence Forces personnel.

·               Terminal gratuity equivalent of 10.5 months of reckonable emoluments for Short Service Commissioned Officers who will be allowed to exit Armed Forces any time between 7 and 10 years of service.

·               Hospital Leave, Special Disability Leave and Sick Leave subsumed into a composite new Leave named ‘Work Related Illness and Injury Leave’ (WRIIL). Full pay and allowances will be granted to all employees during the entire period of hospitalization on account of WRIIL.

8.            The Cabinet also approved the recommendation of the Commission to enhance the ceiling of House Building Advance from Rs.  7.50 lakh to 25 lakh. In order to ensure that no hardship is caused to employees, four interest free advances namely Advances for Medical Treatment, TA on tour/transfer, TA for family of deceased employees and LTC have been retained. All other interest free advances have been abolished.

9.            The Cabinet also decided not to accept the steep hike in monthly contribution towards Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme (CGEGIS) recommended by the Commission. The existing rates of monthly contribution will continue. This will increase the take home salary of employees at lower levels by Rs. 1470. However, considering the need for social security of employees, the Cabinet has asked Ministry of Finance to work out a customized group insurance scheme for Central Government Employees with low premium and high risk cover.

10.        The general recommendations of the Commission on pension and related benefits have been approved by the Cabinet. Both the options recommended by the Commission as regards pension revision have been accepted subject to feasibility of their implementation. Revision of pension using the second option based on fitment factor of 2.57 shall be implemented immediately. A Committee is being constituted to address the implementation issues anticipated in the first formulation. The first formulation may be made applicable if its implementation is found feasible after examination by proposed Committee which is to submit its Report within 4 months.

11.        The Commission examined a total of 196 existing Allowances and, by way of rationalization, recommended abolition of 51 Allowances and subsuming of 37 Allowances. Given the significant changes in the existing provisions for Allowances which may have wide ranging implications, the Cabinet decided to constitute a Committee headed by Finance Secretary for further examination of the recommendations of 7th CPC on Allowances.  The Committee will complete its work in a time bound manner and submit its reports within a period of 4 months. Till a final decision, all existing Allowances will continue to be paid at the existing rates.

12.        The Cabinet also decided to constitute two separate Committees (i) to suggest measures for streamlining the implementation of National Pension System (NPS) and (ii) to look into anomalies likely to arise out of implementation of the Commission’s Report.

13.        Apart from the pay, pension and other recommendations approved by the Cabinet, it was decided that the concerned Ministries may examine the issues that are administrative in nature, individual post/ cadre specific and issues in which the Commission has not been able to arrive at a consensus.

14.        As estimated by the 7th CPC, the additional financial impact on account of implementation of all its recommendations in 2016-17 will be Rs. 1,02,100 crore. There will be an additional implication of Rs. 12,133 crore on account of payments of arrears of pay and pension for two months of 2015-16.

HIGH LIGHTS OF 7th CPC FOR DEFENCE

Military service pay

Non combatant from 1000 to-3600

JCO/OR  from 2000 -5200

MNS from 4200-10800

Officers-from 6000-15500

MF 2.57 on 7^th CPC basic

7th CPC NEWS IN FRONT OF YOU

CLICK ON THE MIDDLE ARROW

Cabinet Committee May Decide 7th Pay Commission Report on 29.6.2016 (Wednesday)

 Highly placed sources have told ‘India Today’that Prime Minister Narendra Modi hasasked the Finance Ministry to place the recommendations of the Cabinet Secretary’s port on the seventh Pay Commission in

the next Cabinet meeting on June 29.n what promises to be a big bonanza for cntral government employees, a hike of 15-0 per cent in salaries is expected toe proposed under the Seventh Pay Commission.Hihly placed sources have told ‘India Today’hat Prime Minister Narendra Modi todaysked the Finance Ministry to place the recommendations of the Cabinet Secretary’seport on the seventh Pay Commission in

the next Cabinet meeting on June 29. Sources say that government

employees are likely to get pay hike of between 15-20

per cent over their current compensation with sources saying the recommendations of the pay commission are likely to be accepted by the Modi government.n January, the government had set up a high-powered panel headed by Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha to process the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission. Over 98.4 lakh government employees will be impacted by the Seventh Pay

Commission recommendations. Thisigure includes 52 lakh pensioners

(Source:www.indiatoday.in

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Seventh Pay Commission: Good news! Cabinet to decide 'salary hike' on June 29

By: Mukul Kumar Mishra

Updated: Monday, June 27, 2016, 19:23 [IST]

New Delhi, June 27: It looks like Central Government employees will get good news regarding their 'salary increment' under Seventh Pay Commission scheme soon. Reportedly, the Union cabinet will take up the recommendations of 7th CPC on Wednesday (June 29).
Read more: 7th Pay Commission decoded: Know all about salary increment, past pay commissions
Media reports say that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed Finance Ministry to speed up the whole process and place Empowered Group of Secretaries' recommendations in next Cabinet meet.

It is being said that Central government will get 15-20 increment on their basic salary.
Read more: Seventh Pay Commission: Here is the list who all are set to get benefit
This development has come to fore at a time when there is huge suspence over implementation of 7th CPC. Earlier reports said that govt may delay 'salry increment' in the wake of volatility in the markets following after Britain's decision to pull out the European Union.
Modi Government needs Rs 1.02 cr to implement Seventh Pay Commission. It will take into effect from January, 2016.
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