Viewed from any angle, this is a welcome move. This time, the Commission will not have to hurry through the processes of consultations and drafting as the effective date of implementation will be January 1, 2016. It is good news that Centre will be giving some thought taking the views of stakeholders, even before the constitution and announcement of Terms of Reference (TOR). It would have been ideal, if Centre appointed a National Wages Commission to coordinate the efforts of VII Pay Commission and wage negotiations across public and private sectors to ensure some clarity of approach in ensuring some broad sectoral relativity and relationship of compensation packages with skill and career progression.
The next wage settlement in government, public sector and organised sector in general will have to factor in, among other things, the following ground level realities:
i) After the introduction of New Pension System (NPS), there are two categories of employees in all organisations. The claims of employees covered by NPS for higher wages factoring in the reduction in real wages on account of subscription to NPS and the need to save more to ensure income comparable to the pension available to the employees who joined earlier than them are genuine.
ii) Industry parity. Workmen staff/Officers doing similar work in different categories across public and private sectors will have to be given comparable wages, additional compensation being provided for extra work.
iii) Outsourcing. Let us not forget a couple of recent industry experiences including that of Maruti. Employees who are on regular employment, even on contract, will have to be given clarity about their absorption in the institutions and a living wage till then. Circumventing labour laws is not in the long term interest of government/industry, besides the social security implications of such short-cuts.
iv) Institutions will have to revisit the recruitment policy (right from basic qualifications needed), career progression (traditional path is no more relevant or practical) and placement policy (rural posting, need for special skills etc.)
v) There is no escape from hiking the retirement age across sectors. This will even save costs on post-retirement care. As healthy retirees will in any case retaining some jobs, the argument emanating from the fear of job-reduction on raising retirement age is no longer valid.
M G WARRIER, Mumbai
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