Pay hike: Oil PSU officers protest against post-retirement benefits

THE officers of Central oil public sector enterprises (PSUs) — ONGC, IOCL, GAIL, NTPC, SAIL, BHEL, CIL, HPCL, BPCL, NRL and CPCL, among others — have staged a protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi protesting against the government’s decision on finalising the implementation of the third Pay Revision for CPSE executives due with effect from January 1, 2017.
The officers claim that it has not met their demands on gratuity and retiral benefits, among others.
In a press statement, the Federation of Oil PSU Officers and the Confederation of Maharatna Company Officers’ Association said that while they made...
several representations to the Prime Minister and had meetings with several Cabinet ministers and senior government officials, they have not yielded any result and, thus, they are left with no choice but to take this step.
Earlier, on August 12, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two associations, wrote, “We are deeply pained and distraught after going through the Pay revision of CPSE Officers OM released by DPE on 8th August 2017.”
The letter further added, “None of our humble prayers on this issue have been addressed and, therefore, the message that emanated out of this is that government is not sensitive or inclined to nurturing the CPSEs.”
Earlier, in lines with the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission's recommendations, Union Cabinet in July announced similar pay bonanza for the workers employed at the central public sector enterprises (CPSEs).
Of the total 244 operating CPSEs, only 100 enterprises could be eligible for pay revision though as they meet the “affordability criteria” suggested by the 3rd Pay Revision Committee (PRC).
According to estimates, the total workforce comes to around 12.3 lakh, of which 3.8 lakh are officers and the rest non-officer staff. Pay hike to the CPSE officers could cost these enterprises Rs 7,000 crore in 2017-18, as the revised salaries would be with retrospective effect starting January 2017. In case of CPSE workers, who account for over two-third of the total CPSE staff, pay revision will cost these firms around Rs 10,000 crore annually.