Central government employees on Friday said they were “totally disappointed” with the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission and would observe a ‘black day’ on November 27 in protest.

In a statement, the National Joint Council of Action (NJAC) said the pay panel, while giving a “bonanza” to higher level officers, had “completely ignored” low-paid employees.

The council, which met here on Friday, said while the minimum wage was fixed at ₹18,000, the Secretary-level officers have been given a huge hike of ₹2,25,000 and the Cabinet Secretary’s salary is fixed as ₹2,50,000.

“The demand of the staff side to fix the minimum pay at ₹26,000 has been completely rejected by the 7th pay panel, which has arbitrarily fixed it at ₹18,000,” it said, adding that the pay panel had “mutilated the formula for fixing the minimum wage”.

Meagre increase The minimum wage recommended amounts to a meagre increase of ₹2,250 from the existing ₹7,000 + 8,750 (125 per cent DA as on January 1, 2016).

“From this minimum pay of ₹18,000, as per the recommendation, ₹1,500 will be recovered for the group insurance scheme and 10 per cent (₹1,800) for the New Pension Scheme from employees recruited after January 1, 2004 and 6 per cent towards general provident fund contribution from these employees.

This will result in “minus” benefit for low-paid employees, NJAC convenor Shiva Gopal Mishra said in a statement.

Pay ratio The council said it had been demanding that the ratio between minimum pay and maximum pay should be not more than 1:8, while the pay panel has kept it at 1:3.8. KKN Kutty, President, Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers, said: “It is the only commission that has reduced the allowances, due to which the growth in net income is only 14.28 per cent.”

HRA has also been reduced from 30 per cent to 24 per cent, 20 per cent to 16 per cent, and 10 per cent to 8 per cent, it was pointed out.

Related Topics