Bonus Ceiling will be revised or not ?
It seems the government is not ready to revise the Bonus Ceilings which is one of the main demand of central government employees.
The central Trade union called for one day strike on 2nd September 2015 to settle the demands raised in Charter of demands.
The government called the Central trade union leader to discuss the issues raised in the charter of demands to avoid the proposed strike.In the meeting held on 27th August 2015 the government assured that it will look into the issues and requested the Trade unions to with draw the strike action.
According to the the Press release issued by Labour ministry on 27th August 2015, the following was stated
In view of the suggestions given by Central Trade Unions in the meetings held on 19th July, 26th August and 27thAugust, 2015, the Government assured the following :
2. For the purposes of bonus the wage eligibility limit and calculation ceiling would be appropriately revised. Earlier in 2006-07 the calculation ceiling was decided at Rs.3500/- and eligibility limit was wage of Rs.10,000/- per month which is proposed to be revised to Rs.7,000 and Rs.21,000 respectively.
Again in the press release issued by Minisry of Labour and employment on 1st September 2015, Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State(IC) for Labour and Employment appealed the Central Trade Unions to withdraw the strike and assured the following
2. “For the purpose of bonus, the wage eligibility limit and calculation ceiling would be appropriately revised. It is proposed to revise the wage eligibility limit from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 21,000 and calculation ceiling from Rs. 3500 to Rs. 7,000 or the minimum wage notified by the appropriate Government for that category of employment, whichever is higher. With the proposed revision of the minimum wages, the average calculation ceiling would be about Rs.10,000.
But the central trade union were not satisfied with the statement of central government and refused to withdraw the strike action and participated in all India strike on September 2nd except BMS and claimed it was success.
Meanwhile the general secretary BMS, has published a letter dated 28-8-2015 which was received from Secretary , Ministry of Labour and Employment , confirmed that the Government was considering to revise calculation ceiling for Bonus from the present level of Rs.3500/- per month to Rs.7000/- per month or the Minimum wages for the scheduled employment as fixed by the appropriate Government, whichever is higher. Minimum wages have not been fixed yet, however, the minimum wage will be fixed at a level which is respectable.
Unexpectedly the union cabinet announced 78 days bonus for railway employees yesterday but nothing has been said about revising Bonus ceiling limits. The Bonus Orders issued by various ministry confirmed that the existing ceiling Rs.3500/ will be used for calculation. Merely the announcement of bonus with same limits of calculation ceiling will not make central government employees happy. They didn’t wait to just hear the bonus announcement, they are expecting more than that .
Let us wait and see whether decision in respect of revising Bonus Ceiling limits would be taken in the meeting to be held between JCM staff side and DOPT on 9-10-2015.
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