From the Records = Sixth Pay Commission - Wish & Wisdom

  

Sixth Pay Commission - Wish & Wisdom

Justice Srikrishna, The Chairman of the Sixth Pay Commission while airing his mind to the press castigated that" there is no point in our recommending an increase of Rs. 50/- when all that the finance ministry Can. Afford is Rs. 10/- and shattered all the hopes we had with the Pay commission.

The other observation he made to press that "the employee must be able to account for every rupee that the Govt spends and that the public is fed up of Government servants being paid more and more for non performance "Which shows his preconceived mind to deny our dues and dilute our demands of 'Need based minimum wage' and fair comparison with public Sector employees.

The Central Government employees are all along denied their Fair comparison of wages between the sections of employees whose job description, responsibilities, Qualifications for appointment etc. are similar. Their genuine and legitimate claims are being denied all the times on the plea of capacity to pay,

Even during the British Raj, the Islington Commission (Royal commission on the public services) 1912-1915 has stated interalia: - "Where we have advised changes of salary, it has been to meet inequalities of remuneration." Thereafter it was not reflected in subsequent pay commissions and disparity had been widened and remuneration of Govt employees has shrunk 

.Any Pay Commission or wage board has to concede to the theory of fair comparison which should be accepted by the Employer. The Government has to set the pace and be a model employer. The Government should not take the Capacity to pay as a ruse to decline the wages of its labours perennially.

The revised Pay scales should be based on the Fair comparison and it should not be relied upon the Capacity to Pay by the Government. The Government employees shall also be made capable to compete with their counterparts for their needs in the same market. The revised Pay scales should result in higher rates of increment with higher maximum/ running scale. The fixation should be on the basis of point to point and not on percentage resulting bunching. The pension value and other retirement benefits shall also have better improvement consequently.

In Postal, the most deprived category is Group 'C'. They were denied the decent pay scale for TBOP/BCR. These promotions were later declared as financial upgradation just to deny our demand. The benefits of ACP in 12 & 24 years were also not granted for TBOP & BCR resulting in depreciation of dues after 12 years service.

There were very many we lost in the Fifth Pay Commission. We wish that it should not be repeated once again in our Postal. Will the Govt oblige? No. The Govt never obliges. The Govt must be made to yield. We must make them yield to the pressures that we can generate and exercise.

As a word of caution to the 6^th pay body we would like to say that the polite and decent Postal Employee should not be misjudged. We had been repeatedly ill treated in the past. We have a deep inner strength and unparalleled unity and capable of a long-drawn struggle to achieve fairness and Justice. It is good for the membership to be ready and vigilant.

We must with one voice and with firmness and determination of the organised united strength of the CG employees take the position that the Govt. should pay decent wages to its employees now. If we fail? We will be the sinners against ourselves and the class to which we belong. The posterity may judge us in bad light.

The writing on the wall is "Even the Worm will turn", Why not the C.G. employees?' If the will and wisdom are the horses of our wishes, we will surely succeed.

(Editorial December 2007)