30% salary hike confirmed in 7th Pay Commission

30% salary hike confirmed in 7th Pay Commission

“The wages of public sector bank employees are revised once every five years. The recent 10th Bipartite wage agreement gave them an increase of 15%.”

United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) had initially put forth a demand of 21% wage hike. It was only after an extensive series of negotiations that the Indian Bank Association agreed to settle for 15%.

For Central Government Employees, once every ten years, a high level committee is constituted by Central Government to revise the pay and allowances. The commission will examine pay structure, concessions and facilities/benefits as well as retirement benefits of Central Staff based on Terms of reference given to them. The Commission has to submit its recommendations within 18 months of the date of its constitution.

All the employees’ Trade unions, Associations and Federations are given a chance to meet the committee and present their demands and expectations in the form of memorandums. All these stages have been completed. The pay commission is expected to submit its report to the central government this month.

The prime question which comes naturally in every one is mind is  how much increase the Central Government employees will get?

In our point of view, all Central employees can surely get a uniform 30% increase in salaries with effect from 01.01.2016, irrespective of ranks and length of service.

Let us assume that an employee who had been recruited after the implementation of the 6th Pay Commission, draws a salary of, on an average, Rs.30,000, including all allowances. Then, after the implementation of 7th Pay Commission, his salary will increase by 30%, and be Rs.39,000.

Everybody, including the NC JCM and the news websites, is expecting maximum hike. That is entirely their discretion. They would have a reason too – simple reason is ‘if you want to get what you want then you should ask more than thatí. They are hoping for a 60% to 70% increase’.

This is where most misconceptions occur. Even English newspapers are no exceptions, and have misquoted the numbers.

The minimum basic pay, as decided by the 6th Pay Commission, was Rs.7000. The basic salary of the lowest rank employee, who was recruited after the implementation of the 6th Pay Commission, was Rs.7000 per month, plus allowances. Almost ten years later, the basic pay of the same lowest ranked employee who was recruited after July 2015, is Rs.15330 (7000 + 119% DA) and allowances. The Dearness Allowance, which is given twice a year, began at zero and has increased to 119% in the past 10 years.

The Central Government employees’ Federation, NC JCM Staff Side had, in its memorandum to the 7th Pay Commission, hoped for a revised minimum basic pay of Rs.26000 (a 70% hike), instead of Rs.15330. The Federation had detailed and defended with irrefutable explanations and justification for their demands.

In News Media , Articles are being written questioning the basis on which the Federation is demanding a 3 times hike in salary..?

In fact, it is not clear on what basis they are publishing articles that Federations were asking a 3 times salary hike and central govt employees can get 3 times hike !

“An employee’s salary hike depends on a number of factors, including the pay commission, wage revision, promotion, etc. The normal procedure to find out the percentage of hike is to calculate it on the basis of the pre-hike salary. But, it is ridiculous to see some people calculate the increase based on the salary drawn by the employee ten years ago, and claim that they are going to receive multiple-times of salary hike.”

It is almost tragic to see employees, lured by the misguiding claim of a Multiplication Factor of 2.86, assuming that there will be a threefold salary hike.

The salaries of all Central Government employees from January 2016 onwards will be 30% higher than the pay of December 2015.

People who differ from this opinion, and those who are convinced that it is very low, are requested to calculate the percentage of salary hike of December 2005 and January 2006. This was the hike recommended by the 6th Pay Commission. Also, if possible, try to find out the percentage of increase in salary of December 1995 and January 1996. This was hike recommended by the 5th Pay Commission.

It has become very obvious that the Central Government employees are under some kind of spell when it comes to salary hikes. This is an attempt to dispel the illusion.

I shall resume this article with your esteemed feedback.