Postal staff call off strike after cabinet nod for pay revision
07 Jun 2018
Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) or rural postal employees across the country on Wednesday called off their indefinite strike following the cabinet approval for revision of their wage structure and allowance.
The union cabinet on Wednesday approved a revision in the wage structure and allowances of Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) of the Department of Posts.
The wage revision will benefit 3.07 lakh Gramin Dak Sevaks, including branch postmasters (BPMs) and other than branch postmasters, namely assistant branch postmaster (ABPMs), a cabinet release stated.
Postal employees under the banner of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), National Federation of Postal Employees (NFPE), All India Postal Employees Union (AIPEU), All India Gramin Dak Sevaks Union (AIGDSU) and National Union for Gramin Dak Sevaks (NUGDS) had gone on strike demanding implementation of recommendations of Kamlesh Chandra Committee report 2016.
Under the wage revision Time Related Continuity allowance (TRCA) structure and slabs have been rationalised. The present 11 TRCA slabs will be merged into only three TRCA slabs with two levels each for BPMs and other than BPMs.
The minimum TRCA for a branch post master (BPM) will be Rs12,000 for Level 1 (4 hours) and Rs14,500 for Level 2 (5 hours).
For assistant branch post masters, the minimum salary will be Rs10,000 for Level 1 (4 hours) and Rs12,000 for Level 2 (5 hours).
Dearness allowance (DA) will continue to be paid as a separate component, and will be revised from time to time whenever it is revised for central government servants.
It is decided to continue the calculation of the ex-gratia bonus by applying the calculation ceiling of Rs7,000 as basic TRCA + DA till such time a new scheme is devised.
Arrears for the period 1 January 2016 to the date of implementation will be paid by increasing the basic TRCA drawn during the period by a factor of 2.57. The arrears will be paid in one instalment.
Annual increase in salary will be at the rate of 3 per cent and the same may be given on 1 January or 1 July of every year as the case may be based on the one time written request of GDSs.
A new Risk and Hardship Allowance has been introduced. Other allowances, viz, office maintenance allowance, combined duty allowance, cash conveyance charges, cycle maintenance allowance, boat allowance and fixed stationery charges, have also been revised.
The revision in the wage structure would entail expenditure of an estimated Rs1,257.75 crore, which include non-recurring expenditure of Rs860.95 crore and recurring expenditure of Rs396.80 crore, during 2018-19, according to the cabinet release.
Branch post offices are the fulcrum for provision of communications and financial services in the village and are located in remote areas. The post master has to deal with large sums while making payments to customers and accountability is already built into his work. Moreover, with the rollout of the India Post Payment Bank (IPPB), the CDS network is expected to play a key role in the process of financial inclusion of the rural population.
The extra departmental system in the Department of Posts was established more than 150 years ago to provide basic, economical and efficient postal services in the rural areas where there was no justification for engaging full time regular employees. At present there are 1,29,346 extra-departmental branch post offices primarily manned by Gramin Dak Sevak branch postmasters. In addition, Gramin Dak Sevaks other than branch postmasters are also working in branch, sub and head post offices.
The Gramin Dak Sevaks work for part time ranging from 3 to 5 hours per day and supplement their income from other vocations so as to have adequate means of livelihood for themselves and their families. They remain in service up to the age of 65 years.