Dear AIBOC Leaders,
Voice of a Direct Recruit Officer - An open letter on Wage Revision
I am forced to write this letter as I am again a mute witness to the drama being enacted before us in the name of the Bipartite Settlement. I am getting a feeling of déjàvu but with a difference. The difference this time is that few voices are being heard in support of us the officers who are just making a start in our career.
I purely wish to quote from my experience. I joined the bank during September 2013. The tenth bipartite was due from November 2012. I need not repeat what happened during those 30 months because it is common knowledge. Finally when we got our much demanded wage hike during April 2015, to my dismay , I found out that nothing much has changed. I am presenting you the data on my salary as below
Table 1
Sl. No.
Salary as on 01.11.2012 Quantum Increase (%) Before wage revision After wage revision
1
Basic
14500
23700
2 DA % 76.50 10.90 3 DA 11092 2583 4 Basic + DA 25592 26283 691 (2.7%) 5 Spl. All. --- 1836 6 DA on Spl.All. --- 200 7 Basic + DA + Spl. All 25592 28320 2728 (10.7%) As you can observe, the minimum basic should have been fixed atleast at Rs.25600/- level which was the Basic + DA prevailing as on the date when wage settlement became due. However, the basic pay was fixed at Rs.23700/- much to the chagrin of the bank officers. Further, the increase in Basic + DA is Rs.691/- only working out to a meagre increase of 2.7%. By introducing a new pay component in the name of Special Allowance which is not reckoned for the retirement benefits, my salary was not affected much but had an impact on my seniors’. Though there was not any immediate effect for me because of this, I still consider that it will have a cascading effect on future settlements. This special allowance concept should not have been accepted at all and required steps need to be taken to merge the special allowance with basic pay as rightly demanded by us. Assuming that Eleventh Bipartite is done in lines of the Tenth BPS, I have worked out our expected structure assuming increase at various percentage points. My calculations are as below. Table 2 Existing Salary as on 01.11.2017 Basic 23700 DA % 51.60% DA 12229 Basic + DA 35929 Spl. All. 1836 DA on Spl.All. 948 Basic + DA + Spl. All 38713 My calculations are simple and based on the two assumptions. Assumption 1 is based on the same percentage increase of 2.7% I got under Basic + DA put together (Table 1. Sl. No.4), and projected for 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% increase respectively. Similarly Assumption 2 is based on the same percentage increase of 10.7% I got under Basic + DA + Spl. Allowance put together (Table 1 Sl. No.7), and projected for 13%, 18%, 23% and 28% increase respectively maintaining the difference of 8% throughout between Assumption1 and Assumption 2. Table 3 As on 01.11.2017 Increase Given as per Tenth BPS Projected Assumption 1 2.7% 5% 10% 15% 20% Basic + DA 35929 36899 37725 39522 41318 43115 Assumption 2 10.7% 13% 18% 23% 28% Basic + DA + Spl. All 38713 42840 43746 45681 47617 49553 As per my above calculations , even if 20% hike is secured by us in Basic Pay + DA against the increase of 2.7% in tenth BPS, it won’t be matching to the expectations of the officers in banking sector and My Basic +DA will be around Rs.43000/- only. Similarly a 28% increase will get me approximately Rs.50000/- (Basic +DA + Spl. Allowance). In both the scenarios it can be observed that my salary falls way beyond the salary of Grade “A” officer in Central Government though Government of India had accepted that I am equivalent to a Grade “A” officer. The starting basic of a Grade “A” officer in Central Government is Rs.56100/- as on 01.01.2016 while mine is Rs.23700/-. On going through the Charter of Demands submitted by AIBOC, AIBOA, INBOC and NOBO on 2nd May 2017 I was really happy that our demand to fix the salary on principles of Central Pay Commission would definitely bring a semblance of parity to the bank officers with that of Central Government officers’ pay. However, the recent developments i.e.IBA’s offer of 2% hike and subsequent development has come as a rude shock to me. Also, I could not understand how AIBOC and other officer organisations has negotiating for % hike whereas the Charter of Demands submitted had no such provision but purely relied on principles of fixing the basic pay in accordance with the CPC norms. I am unable to comprehend what was the need for deviating from the demand made earlier. I am also apprehensive that this may again create disparity in salary between Bank Officer and Central Government Officer. My fears were justified when the General Secretary of AIBEA’s video started doing rounds in the social media wherein he was found to be speaking about the differences between CPC and Bipartite Negotiations. But the untold truth here is that the demand by the four officer organization was not for CPC but fixing of Basic pay at entry level as per the principal adopted in CPC.
It is furthermore worrying that Mr S Nagrajan general Secretary AIBOA has come out with a circular dated 19.05.2018 comparing CPC and Bipartite Settlement endorsing the views of the AIBEA General secretary. He has conveniently forgotten the he is one of the signaturies of charter of demanddt 02.05.2017 submitted by four officer organization.
Thanking
P RAJ PRAKSH
2 DA % 76.50 10.90 3 DA 11092 2583 4 Basic + DA 25592 26283 691 (2.7%) 5 Spl. All. --- 1836 6 DA on Spl.All. --- 200 7 Basic + DA + Spl. All 25592 28320 2728 (10.7%) As you can observe, the minimum basic should have been fixed atleast at Rs.25600/- level which was the Basic + DA prevailing as on the date when wage settlement became due. However, the basic pay was fixed at Rs.23700/- much to the chagrin of the bank officers. Further, the increase in Basic + DA is Rs.691/- only working out to a meagre increase of 2.7%. By introducing a new pay component in the name of Special Allowance which is not reckoned for the retirement benefits, my salary was not affected much but had an impact on my seniors’. Though there was not any immediate effect for me because of this, I still consider that it will have a cascading effect on future settlements. This special allowance concept should not have been accepted at all and required steps need to be taken to merge the special allowance with basic pay as rightly demanded by us. Assuming that Eleventh Bipartite is done in lines of the Tenth BPS, I have worked out our expected structure assuming increase at various percentage points. My calculations are as below. Table 2 Existing Salary as on 01.11.2017 Basic 23700 DA % 51.60% DA 12229 Basic + DA 35929 Spl. All. 1836 DA on Spl.All. 948 Basic + DA + Spl. All 38713 My calculations are simple and based on the two assumptions. Assumption 1 is based on the same percentage increase of 2.7% I got under Basic + DA put together (Table 1. Sl. No.4), and projected for 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% increase respectively. Similarly Assumption 2 is based on the same percentage increase of 10.7% I got under Basic + DA + Spl. Allowance put together (Table 1 Sl. No.7), and projected for 13%, 18%, 23% and 28% increase respectively maintaining the difference of 8% throughout between Assumption1 and Assumption 2. Table 3 As on 01.11.2017 Increase Given as per Tenth BPS Projected Assumption 1 2.7% 5% 10% 15% 20% Basic + DA 35929 36899 37725 39522 41318 43115 Assumption 2 10.7% 13% 18% 23% 28% Basic + DA + Spl. All 38713 42840 43746 45681 47617 49553 As per my above calculations , even if 20% hike is secured by us in Basic Pay + DA against the increase of 2.7% in tenth BPS, it won’t be matching to the expectations of the officers in banking sector and My Basic +DA will be around Rs.43000/- only. Similarly a 28% increase will get me approximately Rs.50000/- (Basic +DA + Spl. Allowance). In both the scenarios it can be observed that my salary falls way beyond the salary of Grade “A” officer in Central Government though Government of India had accepted that I am equivalent to a Grade “A” officer. The starting basic of a Grade “A” officer in Central Government is Rs.56100/- as on 01.01.2016 while mine is Rs.23700/-. On going through the Charter of Demands submitted by AIBOC, AIBOA, INBOC and NOBO on 2nd May 2017 I was really happy that our demand to fix the salary on principles of Central Pay Commission would definitely bring a semblance of parity to the bank officers with that of Central Government officers’ pay. However, the recent developments i.e.IBA’s offer of 2% hike and subsequent development has come as a rude shock to me. Also, I could not understand how AIBOC and other officer organisations has negotiating for % hike whereas the Charter of Demands submitted had no such provision but purely relied on principles of fixing the basic pay in accordance with the CPC norms. I am unable to comprehend what was the need for deviating from the demand made earlier. I am also apprehensive that this may again create disparity in salary between Bank Officer and Central Government Officer. My fears were justified when the General Secretary of AIBEA’s video started doing rounds in the social media wherein he was found to be speaking about the differences between CPC and Bipartite Negotiations. But the untold truth here is that the demand by the four officer organization was not for CPC but fixing of Basic pay at entry level as per the principal adopted in CPC.
It is furthermore worrying that Mr S Nagrajan general Secretary AIBOA has come out with a circular dated 19.05.2018 comparing CPC and Bipartite Settlement endorsing the views of the AIBEA General secretary. He has conveniently forgotten the he is one of the signaturies of charter of demanddt 02.05.2017 submitted by four officer organization.
Thanking
P RAJ PRAKSH
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