ORGANISATIONAL ACTIVITIES BY LEADERS DURING WORKING HOURS

The State Pay Commission chairman Justice (Retd) Ramachandran Nair has made some plain speaking, before submitting his report, which may not be to the liking of the leaders of the employees' organisations and the politicians as well. The organisation leaders have already come out against his comments.

But from a layman's point of view, what is wrong in his recommendations? The employees are being paid salary by the Government for discharging their official duties and not for doing organisational works.

If the so called leaders are so keen to offer their services to the betterment of their brethren, they should devote their time outside the office hours only. As a retired employee, I have always been harping on this point while in service also. I strongly believe an association of the employees is necessary for collective bargaining, effectively defend the employees against any wrong doings by the managements, government etc. But these activites should be carried out after the leaders discharge their official duties. Now we can see , in the government sector there are any number of organisations owing allegiance to various political parties, even though the Kerala Service Rules (KSR) strictly prohibit any political activity by its employees. All the political parties nurture these organisation to strengthen their cadre base and the ruling and opposition parties are united in this. 

Even the news reports of print and visual media refer to these organisations as organisation owing allegiance to the ruling party, association owing allegiance to the opposition etc. when they report about the activities of these organisations.

However, of late in all spheres, the leaders had been given some unlimited powers, which they wield on all occasions as per the directives of their parent political organisations. And the ordinary members, who are citizens of a highly literate state merely follow the diktats of the leaders for fear of transfer to a distant place etc!!!

I hope the public conscience will wake up after the plain speaking by Justice Ramachandran Nair

PENSION REVISION FOR BANKMEN

The seventh pay commission for central government employees has recommended an increase of about 24% for the central government pensioners also. I am sure the government will accept the recommendations and implement the same in tot.

However, in view of this recommendations, I wonder why the government and IBA should be shy about accepting the demand from the Bank pensioners too. It is surprising to note that during the signing of the 10th bipartite settlement with the unions of employees and officers of the Banks, IBA has mentioned that "as Banks do not have any contractual liability towards the pensioners, the demand for revision of pension along with salary revision cannot be accepted". If that be so, how come the pension of government employees is considered for revision?

A moot point to be considered here is the government is ready to shoulder the additional financial burden on account of the pension revision out of the revenue income, whereas the Banks are required to meet this liability from the profits earned by them from commercial operations. All the present day pensioners of the Banks have played a pivotal role in taking the Banks to the present level and hence is it too much to expect to claim a part of the annual profits towards a periodical revision of pension of these veterans? In line with the agitation by the soldiers for OROP, the Bank pensioners should also launch struggle to achieve this goal, if the government and IBA don't wake up and revise their decisions. Simultaneously efforts through other channels like negotiations, legal actions etc too should be continued, I feel.