Self Explanatory Notes on Charter of Demands submitted to Cabinet Secretary by Confederation

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Dated 11th September, 2014

The Cabinet Secretary,
Government of India,
Rashtrapati Bhawan Annexe
New Delhi. 110 001.

Dear Sir,

The Confederation of Central Government employees and workers is the apex level organisation of all Federation/Association/Unions of CGEs other than in the Railways and Defence Departments. It was in the wake of a strike action in 1960s by the Central Govt. Employees, the Govt. of India set up permanent negotiating machinery called JCM so that the employees will be able to raise their demands and grievances and seek settlement thereof through dialogue. This machinery has now come to a standstill as the Govt.does not convene the meetings of the councils at the National and Departmental levels on one pretext or the other. A new set of rules for grant of recognition of service associations were promulgated in 1993. Many Ministries, despite the employees organizations abiding by the stipulated conditions, have not afforded recognition to the Associations/Federations, thereby closing all channels of communication. The JCM had the facility of referring the issues on which the Government could not agree upon to the Board of Arbitration. The decision/award of the Board was binding on all parties. Still the Government had been rejecting the awards in favour of the employees on the specious plea of adverse impact on national economy by presenting resolutions in the Parliament. We need not emphasise the unethical character of this approach which undermines the confidence of the employees in the fairness of the system.

The 6th CPC recommendations and its implementation had given rise to various anomalies. The employees genuinely felt that the said anomalies would be removed through discussions for which the Government had set up a committee. The Committee despite meeting on four occasions had not been able to settle the issues; nor could it be referred to the Arbitrator. No decision has been taken by the Government so far as to the fate of these anomalies.

The Government set up the 7th CPC in September last. Its notification was issued early this year. Despite assurance being held out, the terms of reference was not subjected to discussion with the staff side with the result the demand of the employees to include the Gramin Dak Sewaks within the ambit of the Commission was not acceded to. The 6th CPC recommendations were implemented with effect from 1.1.2006. The revision of wages was due on 1.1.2011 having completed five years. Wage revision is permitted in the Public Sector undertaking every five years. The value of wages fixed in 2006 has been eroded significantly during the period due to the high rate of inflation and price rise.

The new contributory pension scheme was introduced by the Government on the plea that the pension liability has become unbearable and is a drag on the exchequer. In our Memorandum to the then Prime Minister, we had raised several issues and had pointed out that the financial outflow on account of the new scheme will be much more than the existing defined benefit scheme. We had indicated in our memorandum quite a number of aspects which would be detrimental to the interest of workers. The Government has decide allow FDI in pension fund operations. This will only result in the flow of Indian Savings for investment outside the country.

We submit herewith the charter of demands which requires settlement urgently. We have also appended a Note on each of the issues included in the charter of demands, which is self explanatory. We shall be grateful if these issues are caused to be considered by the concerned departments of the Government of India and brought before the negotiating forum for settlement.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,
(Name of the Secretary……………………..)

Name of the unit of the Federation/Association/Union.

Source: http://confederationhq.blogspot.in/