Railway Unions Unhappy Over Productivity-Linked Bonus Tied To 6th Pay Commission

Several railway employees' unions have expressed disappointment over the government's decision to pay productivity-linked bonus of 78 days based on the Sixth Pay Commission instead of the seventh.

On Thursday, the Union Cabinet approved the payment of Rs 2028.57 crore as productivity-linked bonus of 78 days to 11,72,240 railway employees. According to the government, the maximum amount payable per eligible railway employee is Rs 17,951 for 78 days.

Office bearers of the railway unions said the payment of Rs 17,951 on a monthly pay scale of Rs 7,000 is unfair as this was the minimum basic salary of any railway employee under the Sixth Pay Commission.

"After the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission in 2016, the minimum monthly basic salary in railways is Rs 18,000, which makes the bonus amount Rs 46,159," said Alok Chandra Prakash, the General Secretary of Indian Railways Signal and Tele Maintainers' Union (IRSTMU).

Every year before Durga Puja/Dusshera, 11.72 lakh non-gazetted Railway employees receive productivity-linked bonus. However, since 2016, various railway unions have been demanding payment of productivity-linked bonus based on the minimum salary fixed by the Seventh Pay Commission.

Akhilesh Pandey, the president of North Eastern Railway Men's Congress said that according to the government, the productivity-linked bonus is being awarded for excellence in the performance of employees but "it doesn't look like the government respects our hard work."

"We are extremely disappointed and discouraged but we will continue to fight for our rights," he said.

Sarvjeet Singh, the national general secretary of the Indian Railways Employee Federation said, "We wrote several letters to the Hon'ble Prime Minister and Railway Minister in support of our demand. We even ran various campaigns but the government didn't pay any heed to these."

Several office bearers of the Indian Railway Track Maintainers' Union too have expressed anguish and said the ministry has shown disregard for their hard work and all frontline workers are feeling betrayed.