Strike paralyses govt functioning in Uttarakhand

During the past one month, over 30,000 babus, called ministerial services employees in the hill state, are on indefinite strike, virtually paralysing the functioning of the government.

Despite repeated appeals issued by the government, the bubus appear to be in no mood to relent, even threatening to prolong the strike. The striking employees are demanding pay scales at par with the central government employees. “We have got the benefits of the 6th Pay Commission. But our pay scales are still lower than those of the central government’s,” said a union leader of the employees.

The government, which is still fighting with the burden of the pay commission, has been holding parleys with the employees but a deadlock still persisted on Monday. In a fresh appeal issued today, Principal Secretary Shatrughan Singh asked the employees to return to work or face dire consequences.

“We are initiating action against a couple of the top striking leaders and would even invoke Esma. If the strike continues, others will also be punished,” said a top official said.

Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriya Nishank has already told the officials to accept the bare minimum demands of the striking employees.

According to President of Uttarakhand Federation of Ministerial Services Association (UFMSA) T S Pundir, the government had backtracked on its earlier agreement reached last year on the higher pay scales.

As the strike prolongs, the work is suffering in the hill state.

“Files are not moving in our offices due to the strike. It seems everything is at a standstill,” admitted a district magistrate. However, a section of employees have reported back to work in Tehri district, officials here said.

The government has already implemented the pay commission recommendations with retrospective effect from Jan 1, 2006 giving benefits to nearly 163,000 employees and over 40,000 pensioners. According to an estimate, the 6th Pay Commission has put an annual burden of Rs 4,000 crore on the state exchequer.

Source : Business Standard.

UFBU Meets IBA on 8th February AND 9th February. Haryana govt to pay arrears

Update as on 8th Feb, 2010 : The proposed meeting scheduled on 8th February is postponed. The next date of meeting is yet to be decided. We will inform the viewers about latest developments as soon as available.

UFBU Meets on 8th February, 2010 on common issues with IBA - Banking Reforms and Merger - Solidarity with Central Trade Unions on common issues.

Workmen Unions meets IBA Small Committee on wage Negotiation on 9th February.

Haryana govt to pay arrears

The Haryana government will pay second instalment of arrears of 30 per cent to its pensioners and family pensioners accruing on account of implementation of the pension/family pension revision.

As per a letter issued by the Finance Department, 30 per cent arrears out of 60 per cent would be payable after one year of drawal of first instalment of 40 per cent arrears and the balance 30 per cent arrears would be payable after one year of the drawal of second instalment of 30 per cent arrears, an official spokesman said here today.

ptinews.com

Assam Govt. notifies revised pay structure for it's employees. Update for Pensioners, June 2010.

Update for Pensioners: June 2010.
View the Office Memo 1 Dated 01.06.2010.
View the Office Memo 2 Dated 01.06.2010
View the Table of Revised Rate of Pension


Today, the 4th February, 2010 Assam Govt. has notified the revised pay structure for it's employees.
The new pay structure comprising the system of running Pay Bands.
All the running Pay Bands will have annual increments as a percentage of the
total of pay in the Pay Band and the corresponding Grade Pay. In the new pay
structure, the total of pay in the Pay Band and corresponding Grade Pay would
constitute basic pay. All employees will be entitled to an annual increment of 3%
of Basic Pay. Thus, annual increments are payable on percentage basis instead
of a fixed amount. In the revised scheme, the date of annual increments, in all
cases, will be the 1st of July of the year. Employees completing six months and
above in the grade as on July 1 will be eligible.
Dearness Allowance
The existing provisions regarding grant of Dearness Allowance in
accordance with policy followed by the Government of India shall
continue.

For more details please visit :

RESOLUTION ON THE REPORT OF THE
ASSAM PAY COMMISSION, 2008 AND THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE

THE ASSAM SERVICES (REVISION OF PAY) RULES, 2010.

Department wise Pay Structure

Date of effect and payment of arrear

The revised pay structure shall be effective from 1.4.2009 but the revised
pay for the employees shall be notionally fixed as on 1.1.2006. The pay of
the employees would be fixed along with increments at the rate of 3% of
basic pay, Dearness Allowance etc. with effect from 1.1.2006. Arrear
amount with effect from 1.4.2009 shall be paid in a single instalment
through bank accounts of the employees. All recommendations regarding
allowances and other benefits will take effect only prospectively.

Foreign Banks cut bonuses, hike salaries in India

The move is aimed at avoiding attention on bonuses after an outcry across the world over the huge pay of bankers.

A regulatory glare on salaries and bonuses has forced foreign banks operating in India to change the way they pay their employees.

At least two of them, Citibank NA and Bank of America Corp., have increased basic salary of staff by adding part of the bonus component to the salary. For instance, if an employee was getting Rs100 as bonus, Rs50 is now added to the base salary and Rs50 is being given as variable pay, disbursed in stocks and cash over a period of time.

There has been an outcry across the world at the huge salaries and bonuses paid to bankers—widely seen as the professionals responsible for the financial crisis of 2008 that set off a global economic meltdown.

Even though the banking system in India was largely unaffected by the global slowdown and there has been no problem in terms of liquidity and capital, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had articulated its desire to set guidelines for salaries of private and foreign banks in its second quarter review of the monetary policy for 2009-10.

Foreign banks in India account for a little less than 7% of banking assets, but have a huge talent pool. Many senior bankers in Indian private sector banks have worked with foreign lenders. The salaries and wages of employees of public sector banks, which account for 70% of banking assets, are governed by an industry-wide wage pact.

“Any salary adjustments are not intended to increase total annual compensation, rather to adjust the balance between fixed and variable compensation,” a Citi spokesperson said in an emailed response.

A Bank of America spokesperson declined to comment.

Most of the foreign banks, including Citibank and Bank of America, have announced a salary increase in the range of 15-30% for 2010.

While Mint could not ascertain the salary hike at Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd, one of the leading foreign banks in India, JPMorgan Chase and Co. has announced a 70% increase in salary. The JPMorgan spokesperson did not offer any comment.

Standard Chartered Bank and Deutsche Bank AG are expected to announce a 30% pay hike.

A Standard Chartered Bank official, who declined to be named, said the annual salary revision will happen in March and there will not be any restructuring in the compensation package.

“The salary increases are in the range of 10-30%, depending on the seniority and positions of employees,” a Citibank executive said on condition of anonymity.

RBI has also sought information from banks on how they decided the salaries and bonuses of people heading the treasury department—a key division responsible for generating a significant portion of a bank’s profits.

“Bonus attracts attention of the media and politicians. Hence, these banks have increased the base salary of employees,” said the chief executive of a human resource firm, who declined to be named as his firm places employees at foreign banks. “However, this will increase the cost for banks as when the basic salary goes up, the cost of pension and other contributory benefits rise.”

“They also have to retain and attract talent in India, which is a growing market and a major contributor to the banks’ profits. The foreign banks are following a middle path in a tough regulatory environment,” he added.

RBI is working in consonance with standards defined by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) on compensation. FSB, consisting of senior representatives of national financial authorities such as central banks, regulatory and supervisory authorities and finance ministries, among others, was established in April to address vulnerabilities, and develop and implement strong regulatory and supervisory policies to maintain financial stability.

FSB principles on compensation, which have been endorsed by the Group of Twenty countries, have proposed that bonuses and incentives be paid over a period of time.

Source : Article of Ms Anita Bhoir published in livemint.com.

IDBI Bank gets variable pay surprise

Only public sector player to have performance-linked salary.

Ignoring a government advisory, IDBI Bank has moved to a variable pay structure for its officers, who will now have a 70 per cent fixed salary component.

In the process, it has become the first public sector bank to shift to this structure, while the other banks, that are part of a negotiated wage structure, gave up the plan in the wake of opposition from employee unions.

The move came as a surprise for most IDBI Bank managers, who discovered the shift only after they received their salary for January. The government has also set up a committee, headed by former Bank of Baroda Chairman and Managing Director A K Khandelwal, to review the human resource policies of public sector banks and variable pay is one of the issues being discussed.

The bank has also raised salaries around 20 per cent, three bank executives said.

While IDBI Bank Executive Director (Human Resources) Pramod Sadar Joshi confirmed the variable pay package had been implemented, he did not respond to an e-mailed questionnaire. An IDBI Bank spokesperson said Joshi was tied up with meetings.

Executives said they were surprised the bank had gone ahead and implemented the move, since there was no mechanism in place to measure their performance.

Also, last May the government had written to IDBI Bank to put on hold plans to shift to variable pay and harmonised service conditions, saying the proposals required closer examination. Bank workmen had got a stay, following an intervention by the labour commissioner. Following this, the bank had put its plan to implement a variable pay structure on hold.

IDBI Bank wanted to shift to a uniform pay structure as it had merged three entities to form the present bank. While IDBI, the development financial institution was converted into a bank seven years ago, IDBI Bank and United Western Bank were merged into the new entity. Each entity had a different set of service rules and salary structure and the bank management was trying to harmonise these.

At least two bank executives said the revised salary scheme had been implemented with retrospective effect and the bank would pay arrears over the next few days.

Source : Business Standard.