MEETING OF THE JCM IN DEPARTMENT OF POSTS
REGARDING FILLING OF VACANCIES IN VARIOUS CADRES
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
PJCA CIRCULAR
POSTAL JOINT COUNCIL OF ACTION
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES
FEDERATION OF NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANISATIONS
No.PF-PJCA/2016 Dated: 08th March, 2016
CIRCULAR
To
All General Secretaries /Federation Office Bearers
All Circle/Divisional & Branch Secretaries of NFPE & FNPO
Comrades,
The National Joint Council of Action (Railway,Defence, Confederation & Postal) Meeting was held on 07.03.2016 at NC –JCM Office -13-C- Firozshah Road New Delhi.
The NJCA discussed in detail the situation arisen after the declaration of State Assembly election in 5 States as the election Code of conduct has come in to effect.
The NJCA also reviewed the discussion in the meeting of Empowered Committee of Secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary on 1st March -2016 wherein the Cabinet Secretary had requested for some more time to arrive at conclusion on the Charter of demands raised by the NJCA.
The meeting has reached to the conclusion that it will not be feasible to conduct strike during election period and remain stick to the date of strike as 11th April-2016.
Considering the fact that as per Section 22 of Industrial Dispute Act 1947 with regard to the validity of the strike notice which is not more than six weeks from the date of serving the strike notice. It was also decided that issues of serving strike notice and strike date should be reconsidered.
Keeping in view all the above facts the NJCA took the following decisions unanimously:
1. The Indefinite Strike shall commence from 06 a.m. on 11.07.2016 (11th July,2016).
2. The Strike Notice will be served on 09th June, 2016.
3. Massive demonstrations should be held in all work place on 11th March-2016 in support of strike Charter of demands.
4. The decision of NJCA would be communicated to Cabinet Secretary.
The campaign programme of All India leaders as declared earlier is postponed.
Fresh Campaign programme will be given later.
With fraternal greetings.
Yours Comradely
(D. Theagarajan) (R.N. Parashar)
Secretary General FNPO Secretary General
IMPORTANT CIRCULAR
Dated – 08.03.2016
1. NJCA INDEFINITE STRIKE DATE AND STRIKE NOTICE SERVING DATE POSTPONED TO 11TH JULY 2016 & 09TH JUNE 2016
NJCA meeting held at JCM (NC) staffside office on 07th March 2016, after detailed deliberations has decided to postpone the indefinite strike date of 11th April 2016 and strike notice serving date of 11th March 2016 to 11th July 2016 and 09th June 2016 respectively. The following are the reasons which necessitated the change in dates.
a) While summing up the discussion on Charter of demands held on 1st March 2016 by Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECoS) with JCM National Council Standing Committee members, Cabinet Secretary has stated that reasonable time should be given to the Government for a fair consideration of all the demands raised in the Charter of demands, since the issues concern inter-departmental consultations.
b) After declaration of the Election schedule in five State Assemblies, the Election Code of Conduct has come into effect. Further there will be polling on 11thApril 2016 (strike commencement date) in West Bengal and Assam.
c) As per Section 22 of Industrial Disputes Act 1947 with regard to the validity of strike notice is not more than six weeks from the date of serving the strike notice. Even if we give strike notice on 11th March 2016, for commencement of indefinite strike after the election dates (ie 20th May 2016), the six weeks period will be over by that time and we have to serve fresh strike notice again.
Considering all the above aspects, the meeting took the following decisions:-
1. The indefinite strike shall commence from 6am on 11th July 2016.
2. Strike notice would be served on 09th June 2016.
3. Massive demonstration shall be held in all workplace on 11th March 2016 in support of the charter of demands and strike decision.
4. The decision of the NJCA would be communicated to the Cabinet Secretary.
5. Detailed mobilization programmes would be given later on.
Copy of the NJCA Circular dated 07th March 2016 and letter addressed to Cabinet Secretary dated 07-03-2016 are enclosed herewith.
In view of the above decisions, the state C-O-C level joint meeting of office bearers / committee members of C-O-Cs and affiliated organizations of Confederation scheduled earlier will be rescheduled after NJCA mobilisation programme is finalised. Department-wise campaign and mobilisation on charter of demands (Common demands plus Department specific demands) shall continue.
2. CENTRAL TRADE UNIONS DECIDES TO HOLD NATIONAL CONVENTION OF WORKERS IN NEW DELHI ON 30TH MARCH 2016
The Central Trade Unions in their meeting held on 27th January 2016, besides deciding to stage All India Protest Day on 10th March 2016, also decided to hold National Convention of Workers towards the end of March in New Delhi to discuss and decide on next courseof action programme against the anti-people and anti-labour policies by the Govt. The convention will now be held on 30th March 2016 at Mavalankar Hall, New Delhi. The convention will commence at 10.30 am on 30th March 2016.
All C-O-Cs and affiliated organisations of Confederation are requested to make the 10th March 2016 All India Protest Day a grand success jointly with other Central Trade Unions. Regarding National Convention on 30th Marfch 2016 the C-O-Cs in and around Delhi are requested to ensure maximum participation of Central Govt Employees in the Convention. National Secretariat members of Confederation, who are available in Delhi shall also attend the Convention.
Copy of the joint statement issued by Central Trade Unions is enclosed herewith.
3. WFTU- TRADE UNION INTERNATIONAL – PUBLIC AND ALLIED SERVICES - WORLD DAY OF STRUGGLE AGAINST PRIVATISATION ON 4TH APRIL 2016
The Trade Union International Public and Allied Services – World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) has given a call to observe 4th April 2016 as “World Day of Struggle against Privatisation”, focusing mainly on the following issues:-
1. To demand modern, efficient, quality, universal and free public services, to answer the real needs of the workers and people, against their outsourcing or privatization, refusing its use for the accumulation of profits by the oligarchy.
2. To demand the repeal of all rules affecting the rights of Public Administration workers in the countries where they are imposed.
3. To demand improvements in the working and living conditions of the Public Administration workers, namely better wages and work times compatible with their personal and family life.
4. The end precariousness of employment contracts and have guarantees of stability in public employment to ensure the independence from Capitalist Governments, either in the central, regional and local administrations and in the State – owned business sectors
5. To exercise the right of Trade Union freedom (association, meetings, demonstration, participation etc) in all workplaces and the right to negotiation and collective bargaining.
6. To implement social policies that answers the interest of the people and workers for a fairer distribution of wealth, with the rejection of charitable social policies.
7. For the rejection of all neo-liberal policies and austerity that in various parts of the world seek to destroy the labour and social rights of workers and people.
8. To struggle for peace and internationalist solidarity against war, militarism, aggression, interference and blockades that undermine the interests of the wokers and people – in defence of national sovereignty, for the people to freely decide their destiny.
Confederation National Secretariat call upon all C-O-Cs and Affiliated organizations to observe 4th April 2016 as “World Day of Struggle against Privatisation” along with All India State Government Employees Federation (AISGEF) and Bank / Insurance Associations and Federations.
Fraternally yours
M. Krishnan
Secretary General
Confederation of Central Govt
Employees & Workers
GOVT. PLANNING MINIMUM HUMAN RESOURSE AND MAXIMUM GOVERNANCE - REPEATING VAJPAYEE FORMULA TO REDUCE THE NO. OF EMPLOYEES
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seems to be holding a view that minimum human resources means maximum governance.
At least the Budget speech he delivered on February 29 could create such an impression as he talked, in the same breath, about IT-enabled process reforms and the need for human resource rationalisation.
The "governance and ease of doing business" section of the Budget speech talks about NDA government's "unparalleled" emphasis to good governance with special focus on process reforms, IT-enabled government processes, etc. Stating that the whole idea is to remove the irritants for the public in their interface with government agencies, Jaitley explains that a task force has been constituted for rationalisation of human resources in various ministries. A comprehensive review and rationalisation of autonomous bodies is underway, he informs.
The message seems to be favouring automation and less job openings in the Central government services in future. While one can only appreciate the government's intention to provide quicker, transparent and efficient services to its citizens, reduction of human resources need not always achieve that goal. In some cases, even replenishment of human resources could be the need of the hour.
HERE IS WHY
The Central government is already functioning with less number of employees than what is supposed to be its sanctioned strength.
Of the total sanctioned posts of 37.16 lakh in various Central government services, over six lakh remain vacant today. A huge majority, 5.3 lakh vacancies, are at the clerical and support staff level. There are over 50,000 vacancies among Group B level positions and close to 18,000 at the Group-A officers' level. A year ago, 4,802 IAS officers were in position against a total sanctioned strength of 6,375.
The Seventh Central Pay Commission, in its report in November 2015, informs that the current sanctioned strength of the Central government is approximately the same as it used to be 10 years ago (37 lakh in 2006). In other words, rationalisation of human resources has been an on-going process because of which the total sanctioned strength of 38.9 lakh in 2014 has come down to 37.16 lakh. The effective employee strength, if one takes out the vacant posts, would be 31 lakh, a figure that is closer to 29.82 lakh of sanctioned strength forty five years ago (in 1971).
The total number of sanctioned posts was perhaps the highest in 1994 (41.76 lakh) as India's economic liberalisaiton during that period saw disinvestments in sectors like telecom and resultant reduction in government jobs in the following years.
There are more reasons to believe that we may not be able to do away with too many posts immediately. In a submission before the Pay Commission, the Joint Consultative Machinery (JCM)-Staff Side had pointed out that contrary to the common perception, 88 per cent of Central government employees are either industrial or operational staff or not administrative staff. It also points to the increasing trend of outsourcing human resources through contracts, another reason, perhaps, for less-optimal performance.
Finally, this is not the first time BJP government is attempting to downsize the number of Central government employees. The first NDA government under A.B. Vajpayee had brought in a plan to optimise (not rationalise) the recruitment to Central government jobs in 2001. The government wanted to bring in 10 per cent reduction in total sanctioned strength in a phased manner over a period of time. As per the "Optimisation Scheme", all ministries and departments were mandated to prepare the Annual Direct Recruitment Plan for each year in order to prioritise the fresh intake of manpower. It continued for five years, and was extended for three more years, even after the change of regime at the Centre.
It was the Sixth Central Pay Commission which recommended the scrapping of the scheme as it felt that while "multiskilling of the government employees would increase their operational efficiency while simultaneously optimizing the staff strength", a blanket ban on filling up of vacant posts across the board can impact effective functioning of the government.
While appreciating the government's intend to right size its human resources given the changes in the work process due to technology and consequent reduction of layers, the Commission suggested more flexibility for effective service delivery. "Care has to be taken that administrative delivery structures do not become hollow or thin in critical areas", it had stated.
By explicitly announcing the government's decision to revise the pay structure of the Central government employees on the basis of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendation, Jaitley has committed to spend more on salaries. However, it should not result in the finance minister ignoring the warning given by the Sixth Pay Commission.
Rationalisation of human resources is good, if it is purely to improve governance and efficiency. Cutting jobs with the sole objective of reducing the salary burden may not be advisable.
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