The Indian Railway Employees Federation (IREF) has therefore made a letter to the Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw appealing for the bonus to be calculated to the Seventh Pay Commission. At present the bonuses being provided are on the basis of the Sixth Pay Commission and the minimum wage is ₹ 7000/- per month. But now, the minimum wage has been set by the Seventh Pay Commission from January 2016 at ₹18,000 per month. According to IREF, there is need to make this change in bonus calculation so that Call Centre employees are paid fairly.
Request for Fair Bonus Calculation by IREF
In their letter, IREF explained that those railway employees were unfairly treated because bonus was determined based on outdated wage rates. In an interview with the national secretary of IREF, Sarvjeet Singh believed that paying bonuses depending on the Sixth Pay Commission is wrong.
They said it should be linked to the Seventh Pay Commission’s minimum wage of ₹18,000 a month because employee efforts should not go unrewarded. Omission of this demand impacts on their financial status as well as their morale.
Participation During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Railway employees in the course of this Covid 19 pandemic continued working hard to keep operations going and trains running despite the lock down across the country. Nevertheless, the efforts of the aforementioned groups towards achieving the goal went a long way in pulling the revenue of the railway by the quarterly bulletins. However, employees dread that these efforts have not been well appreciated in form of reasonable bonus during such hard times.
Seventh Pay Commission – Bonus Calculation
IREF also informed that railway employees should get a bonus in the tune of 78 days wage based on the Seventh Pay Commission. At the moment, the bonus comes to ₹ 17,951 and based on the monthly salary of ₹7,000. Still, with the Seventh Pay Commission the minimum monthly salary is ₹18,000, so the bonus works out to ₹46,160 for 78 days of work.
An appeal to the Railway Minister
Sarvjeet Singh has asked the Railway Minister to resolve this matter and make railway workers receive the bonuses as per the Seventh Pay Commission. It would also help raise the morale of the employees and ensure that they work harder, towards the improvement of the Indian Railways.
