7th CPC News – Minimum wage and Pay fixation formula for 7th CPC worked out by COC Karnataka

7th CPC News – Minimum wage & Pay fixation forumala for 7th CPC worked out by COC Karnataka

Minimum wage & Pay fixation forumala for 7th CPC worked out

Providing proper minimum wage of Rs 27000/- for CG Employees including that of GDS employees and pay fixation formula for 7th CPC worked out.

Providing proper minimum wage of Rs 27000/- for CG Employees including that of GDS employees and pay fixation formula

The staff side of the JCM had given representation demanding Rs 10,000/- as minimum wage for Central Government Employees. The 6th CPC in its report vide para no 2.2.15 had calculated a minimum wage of Rs 5478/- today if we are calculate the minimum wage it should be more than Rs 21,000/- apart from HRA and other allowances.

Hence there is three times increase in actual prices calculated by the 6th CPC and the current prices. The current wages of the CG Employees should be doubled at least including that of GDS.

The most comprehensive criteria for covering all the basic needs were evolved by the 15th Indian Labour Conference (ILC) in 1957 for fixing minimum wages.

The norms are that a need-based minimum wage for a single worker should cover all the needs of a worker’s family consisting of a spouse and two children. The food requirement was to be 2,700 calories, 65 grams of protein and around 45-60 grams of fat as recommended by Dr Wallace Aykroyd for an average Indian adult of moderate activity.

Dr Aykroyd pointed out that animal proteins, such as milk, eggs, fish, liver and meat, are biologically more efficient than vegetable proteins and suggested that they should form at least one-fifth of the total protein.

Dr Aykroyd worked on nutrition for nearly 30 years and was director of the Nutrition Division, Food and Agriculture Organisation, United Nations. In 1935, he was appointed Director of the Government’s Nutritional Research Centre in India, situated in Coonoor in the south.

The 15th ILC further resolved that clothing requirements should be based on per capita consumption of 18 yards per annum, which gives 72 yards per annum for the average worker’s family. For housing, the rent corresponding to the minimum area provided under the government’s industrial housing schemes was to be taken.

Fuel, lighting and other items of expenditure were to constitute an additional 20% of the total minimum wage.

The Supreme Court upheld these criteria in the case of Unichoy vs State of Kerala in 1961. In the later Raptakos Brett Vs Workmen case of 1991, the SC went one step further, and held that besides the five components enunciated by the 15th ILC, minimum wages should include a sixth component, amounting to 25% of the total minimum wage, to cover children’s education, medical treatment, recreation, festivals and ceremonies.

The SC also observed that a wage structure including the above six components would be “nothing more than minimum wage at subsistence level” which the workers must get “at all times and under all circumstances”.

Minimum Salary-Analysis &Recommendations para 2.2.15

The Commission, however, agrees that the norms set by the 15th International Labour Conference (ILC) are appropriate for computing minimum salary.

It is also observed that the minimum salary is applicable at the time a person joins the Government which will usually be at a young age when a person may be just married and will not have responsibility of parents or many children. Accordingly, the family unit for minimum salary can only be taken as three.

The Minimum Salary should be based on 6 units not three units as per 6th CPC calculation.

As both parents and two children are depending on the salary of Government servant apart from spouse. the additional burden the employees will carry after a few years of service as his parents would have retired from service and are wholly dependent on him also his children would have stepped into school / college level, even small baby requirements are much unlike in the past years, the hence the minimum wage he gets will not compensate with the family financial burden Hence the whole calculations needs a undergo a drastic change in next CPC taking into account of 6 units rather than 3 units.

The Sixth Central Pay Commission has recommended a minimum wage of Rs 6600/- per month against the demand of Rs 10,000/- per month as worked out by Staff side of JCM. Today the minimum need based wage works out to Rs 21,000/ per month+ HRA+ allowances.

The general minimum expenses per month for a family of four members are as follows

when a Government servant joins the duty with two small children:
a) Vegetables Rs 3000/-
b) Food Grains /Groceries Rs 7000/-.
c) House rent single room Rs 6000/-
d) Clothing Rs 3000/-
e) Children education and their expenses Rs 2000/-
f) Electricity Chargers Rs 800/-
g) Water Charges Rs 250/-
h) Transportation charges Rs 1000/-
i) TV cable rent Rs 300/-
j) Medical Expenses Rs 500/-
k) Mobile expenses Rs 250/-
l) Cooking Gas Rs 450/-
m) Recreation charges Rs 500/-
n) Personal expenses Rs 1000/-

Total Rs 26500/-Hence minimum wage works out to Rs 27,000/-

The expenses will increase as the age of Government servant goes up and family responsibility will increase as he has to educate the children in professional courses, marriage of his children has to be performed, his medical expenses will increase, his parents will stay with him and now there are quite dependant on the Government servant for their lively hood.

As such the salary should be more to meet his expenses. The Government is a model employer hence the wages should be provided with the needs.

Table : Fixation of Minimum wage as on 1.1.2006 as per 15 ILC norms as per Table 2.2.1 of the 6th compare minimum wage should be three times the 6th recommendations.

Source: www.karnatakacoc.blogspot.in