Several government employees' unions have opposed the Centre's move to freeze their dearness allowance for 18 months,

Several government employees' unions have opposed the Centre's move to freeze their dearness allowance for 18 months, saying the decision will not only hurt them, but also the economy.

This, along with opposition from industrial and informal workers, will increase the friction with the government at a time when the country witnesses a rise in unemployment rate and a sizeable portion of working class faces income loss due to covid-19.

“The freeze of inflation-linked pay hike for government employees and pensioners will have a cascading impact on their lives. While the government wants some economic activities to open up, without consumption, economy cannot revive," said Prem Chand, general secretary of the Indian Public Service Federation (IPSF).

Chand said they have written to the prime minister’s office and the state chief ministers several times in the past one week to reconsider the freeze in dearness allowance and dearness relief.

The freezing of DA/DR till July 2021 will help the Centre save ₹37,500 crore and the states ₹82,500 crore. While the corpus will help the government fight the covid-19 pandemic and may offer it some room to announce a stimulus package, workers feel that the move will only increase friction between government and employees.

Besides, a high unemployment rate of above 20% and salary cut across sectors will only increase opposition against the government. The employees' unions said high unemployment rate and wage loss will push millions to poverty. The International Labour Organisation in a recent report has said the current crisis has the potential to push 400 million Indians deeper into poverty.

“Such a decision has never taken place in last four decades. The moment you take away the inflation linked hike of government workers, it takes away over a ₹1.2 trillion from the market, badly impacting the recovery of the economy as consumption will take a hit," said Harbhajan Singh, secretary general of Hind Mazdoor Sabha, which comprises several government employees and railways factory workers union.

Singh said the government may face a combined opposition from the working class in days to come. “While workers of most unions will carry out the symbolic protest from May Day from the work stations, once the lockdown is lifted, things will take a bigger dimension," he added.

The joint consultative machinery (JCM), an umbrella body of government employees, said all the unions should keep up the pressure to push the government to reconsider its decision. “…be ready to join us as soon as lockdown finishes to formulate the future course of action," said Shiv Gopal Mishra, secretary of JCM, in a letter to employee groups.

“I hope you will continue your effort for mobilizing against this move…and try to consolidate the strength of central government employees on one platform," Mishra said in the letter.