Posts
Advani woos Govt, PSU staff with better pay package
7 May 2009, 0228 hrs IST, ET Bureau
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/PoliticsNation/Advani-woos-govt-staff-with-better-pay/articleshow/4493626.cms
NEW DELHI: After wooing the personnel of the armed forces by promising to execute the one-rank-one-pension scheme and ensuring tax-exemption, BJP
has now turned its gaze on another important section — employees of the central and state governments, as also those working in various public sector undertakings.
A day before the fourth phase of polls, L K Advani, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, promised to set right the “anomalies” in the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations, and to take steps to strengthen PSUs if NDA was voted to power.
“I appeal to all government and PSU employees in Delhi and elsewhere to vote for the candidates fielded by BJP and its allies in NDA,” Mr Advani said in a statement issued on the eve of the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections. If elected to power, NDA would, Mr Advani said, set right the “anomalies” in the Pay Commission’s recommendations “which have led to dissatisfaction among Group B, C and D category employees”.
The BJP leader’s assurance was calculated to lure the government employees, who were, in the assessment of the party, in either case, very angry with the Manmohan Singh government for its failure to rein in prices of essential commodities and tax rates of home loans, into backing his party.
Government employees constitute an important segment in constituencies such as New Delhi, East Delhi and South Delhi while public sectors undertakings are present in various parts of India. Besides being voters themselves, they were also seen as opinion-makers.
Mr Advani also suggested formulation of a suitable policy to help government employees own a house after retirement. He, at the same time, accused the government of pursuing “anti-worker policies” and said this had resulted in “a lot of anguish and anger among PSU employees, especially employees of the Oil Sector PSUs”.
An NDA government, he sought to assure, will “sympathetically” look into the grievances of PSU employees, fulfiling their “legitimate demands” and ensuring “speedy justice in cases of victimisation”, he said in a bid to woo the 16.14 lakh-strong employees of PSUs dotted all across the country. He pledged to further strengthen public sector, especially infrastructure development.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.hindustantimes.in/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=afa2d2c5-51d2-489f-8fe2-e42ed889754b
Advani tells PSU, Govt employees to vote for BJP
Promising to look into the grievances of government and public sector unit employees and removal of anomalies in the Sixth Pay Commission, BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani today appealed to all government officials to vote for his party.
"I appeal to all government and PSU employees in Delhi and elsewhere to vote for the candidates fielded by BJP and its allies in the NDA (for May 7 polls)," Advani said in a statement.
The veteran leader promises that if elected to power, BJP-led NDA would set right the anomalies in the Sixth Pay Commission's recommendations, which has led to dissatisfaction among Group B,C and D category employees.
He also suggests formulation of a suitable policy to help government employees own a house after retirement.
Accusing the UPA of neglecting the needs of PSU employees, Advani says in his statement, "There is a lot of anguish and anger among PSU employees, especially employees of the Oil Sector PSUs".
Showing posts with label Strike Facts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Strike Facts. Show all posts
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Dr. MANMOHAN SINGH WHY?
Dr. Manmohan Singh-- Why??
- The central PSUs are an important constituent of the Indian economy, and have been a major instrument in driving industrial growth, economic development, employment generation and equitable distribution of wealth in post-independence India.
- Our pay revision was due from 1.1.2007 after ten years of constant persuasion and perseverance. During the Oil Sector Strike, Government advertised that at entry level the salary (CTC) in metro shall become one lakh per month. The facts are otherwise. The details are:
Why did the UPA Government lie to the Public?
- Hon’ble Prime Minister – today the fulcrum of economy is CPSUs. The total income of the CPSUs was Rs 14,675.41 bn during FY08, which was equivalent to 31.1% of India’s GDP at current market prices. Why have you painted the PSUs in wrong picture?
- The effective tax rate for the PSUs grew from 28.9% in 2004 to over 31.4% in 2008 while the effective tax rate declined by over 350 basis points for private sector companies to 22.9% for the same period. Why this government that uses our tax payers money for their salaries could not give us a fair pay revision?
- In 2008, the public sector companies paid over 33.5% of their net profit as dividends to equity shareholders, whereas their private sector peers paid only 20.6% of their profits as dividends. Hon’ble Prime Minister why when we give so much to the country our salaries are only 30% of the private sector.?
- Hon’ble Prime Minister – why this vast variance between what you government advertised and what we shall actually get now?
- The Government has failed all the CPSUs and wants to finish off the technocrats that are actually contributing to this country.
- We love our country and shall continue to deliver. But what has this government done to us is nothing but disrespected us, demoralized and demotivated us.
OFFICERS AND FAMILIES OF CENTRAL PUBLIC SECTOR UNDERTAKINGS.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Oil Strike that Crippled the Media
Talk about the Oil strike that 'crippled' the country over the three days. It is unfortunate that the 'elite media houses' have failed once again to be true. What a shame..!!
Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA) a conglomeration of officers associations of 14 vibrant and thriving Oil PSUs representing over 55000 officers, was trying to make a case on the systemic subjugation and annihilation of the technocrats of these Corporations by the bureaucracy. And media was out to project as if they were criminals 'unleashing economic terror' on the nation..!! Strong words these.
Lets look at the events as they unfolded:
Pay revision to these officers was due as on 01.01.07, after 10 long years and the same was not finalised even after 12 years. (Some generation gap, one would say..!!). What was eventually announced was a meager 17 % net hike..!! Even if we consider a modest & simple 3% inflation over these 12 long years it should have been nothing less than 36%. (I am not giving the minute details of the numbers involved here because it is there for anyone, who makes a small effort, to find out). And this one time hike is supposed to hold for the next ten years, as the next revision is due only after 10 years as per the present arrangements
And to rub the salt in, this announcement is made by the Committee of Secretaries (COS - read Babus) which has unilaterally brushed aside the recommendations of the learned Justice M Jagannath Rao led Pay Revision Committee for CPSEs, which, for over 18 months, had gone into the whole gamut of issues concerning the pay revision of PSU executives, and made some sensational and far reaching recos. And what does the COS do? Within a month of submission of this report they throw aside these recommendations into the dust bin and come up with a surprise package..!!
Justice MJ Rao, we believe, had a vison, a vision of making these PSU executives into global challengers who could take on the world and still be happy in the environment they were working in. He wanted to bridge the gap between the compensation packages of these throbbing Oil PSUs and the neo-rich Private Oil Companies for whom these PSUs had become the favorite hunting ground for a ready, intelligent and specialized talent. If India wanted to be a world major in the Oil & Gas, this was a pre requisite. This required adequate compensation (not hefty mind you, but adequate) to be paid to these executives and Justice Rao realised this. Inputs were sought and obtained from across the globe, from eminent consultants, intelligentsia and the various stakeholders. There was paradigm shift in the thinking w.r.t the compensation package envisaged. India was at last doing what should have been done decades ago. The ‘Modern Temples of India” were being strengthened against the onslaught of the private MNCs who had cast their eyes on the huge Indian talent. The ‘brain drain’ had began..!!
A package was indeed announced to take cognizance of all of above and much more. A fairly reasonable package we would say, though the Oil executives felt disappointed that the compensation was not comparable to the pay packages of executives in the private sector in India. This is what these Officers of PSUs were trying to bring to the attention of the ministries concerned. ‘Please rationalize our pay else we will be losing all our hard-working brilliant executives to the private oil companies’.
The legitimate Associations of the officers of oil PSUs cried hoarse over the last six months to draw attention of the managements and the ministry to the shortcomings that had crept in the recommendations. Series of meeting were held at the highest levels including the Minister of P&NG, Minister of PE & HI, Secretaries of these ministries, Chairman of the DPE, who have at various times agreed that the demands being made were genuine and even recommended the same to the Government. The Officer’s Associations, on three occasions since Sept’08, issued strike notices to the Managements and the Govt. Representations were made to the PMO by these associations. But alas, nobody felt it necessary to address the issues involved which were going to have a long lasting impact over the lives of over 55000 officers of the Oil PSUs and their families and lakhs of members of the other PSUs. Inspite of deadlines issued, time and again, the people who were supposed to take action, ignored the same.
Looking at the way events have unfolded, it is quite obvious that the babus have sabotaged the whole matter and taken the country to the verge of a precipice. Ministers were fed with false information on the implications of the pay revision benefits. False comfort was given to the political leadership on the consequences of strike calls given by the associations. Managements sympathetic to the cause of officers, were pushed on the back foot with veiled threats. Even as the calls of agitation was getting shriller by the day, recommendations made by the managements on the genuine demands, were brushed aside by the Government at the behest of the ministry officials. What started as a genuine and legitimate movement was being touted as a ‘high-handed act by an obstinate group of officers’.
Let’s pause for a moment to figure out why this was being done by the all and the mighty. (again.. read babus)? Why are these beauraucrats so much against the legitimate needs of the officers community? Why has this struggle become a bone of contention between the more reciprocating managements of the PSUs and the beauracratic establishment within the Govt...?? Is it because the changes being sought in the pay structure would catapult the technocrats above the IAS officers? And to ensure that it doesn’t, is this vested group willing to go to any extent to thwart the attempts..?? Only time will bring out the truth.
However, what we actually know is this:
These officers of the oil sector PSUs are professionally qualified and skilled group of people, who have brought laurels to their respective organisations. Over the years, it is these officers who have gone beyond the line of duty and ensured that the supply lines are live. If today, India is proud of oil PSUs being listed among the Fortune 500 listings and rubbing shoulders with the world leaders, it is thanks to the thousands of such dedicated officers in each one of these PSUs.
Even at times of extreme distress and severe challenges to the country, officers have stood together, shoulder-to-shoulder and ensured that the country’s and organization’s interests are upheld, time and again. Be it at the time of Kargil war, Gujarat earthquake or the devastating Tsunami, all the officers have worked relentlessly round the clock to stand by the nation and have even contributed their salaries to mitigate the sufferings of the masses. Never have these officers found wanting, in their commitment to the nation and to its people. It is associations of such officers who has, on many occasions in the last two years, taken conscious decisions to positively respond to the appeals of the Management and Govt to defer the agitation plans so as to uphold the dignity of collective bargaining, inspite of the strong sentiments to the contrary, expressed by the officers community. That these associations are very balanced, extremely mature and highly motivated is proved beyond doubt, time and again.
And what does the tech savvy media houses and their ill informed reporters see them as? ‘Economic terrorists’, ‘Desh Drohis’, ‘Kasav’s of India’. C’mon, give us a break..!! Can anything else be any farther from truth than this..?? Is the media caught in the clutches of the formidable Govt. machinery?
The elitist media experts including the Shekar Gupta’s and their likes refer to this group of people as ‘greasy palms’ and to quote his lines in one of the recent article posted on line ‘The world, particularly the Pakistanis, must be laughing at us, and LeT and various other Lashkars must be smiling smugly: Didn’t we tell you these Indians, they are a weak state, with weak people, remember the slogan we have loved and believed in for years, “hilti huyee diwar hai, ek dhakka aur do.” (It [India] is a shaky wall, just one more push...).’ Surely, Mr Gupta, you should have known better than that. You are an articulate man, with a deep sense of commitment to the nations interest. People sit up to listen to what you say because you have credentials to have the eyes and the ears of the powerful who matter. But, unfortunately your sense of such commitment was conspicuous by its absence when, for the past couple of years, one highly educated and committed section of the nation was pleading with all and mighty to address their woes. Let me ask one simple question to such opinion makers, Is asking for a just and fair pay structure commiserate with their professional contribution to the nation building, not legitimate? Is it a crime to seek comparable increases in their bottom line, when most of the commercial enterprises across the country were doubling or tripling the wages of their employees to retain them? Is it wrong when we say that a mere 17% net increase over a time horizon of 20 year (1997-2016) was grossly inadequate? Is it criminal to plead “Save us, Save our Companies from the butchery..!!”
Was it not necessary for you to remark on the fact that the Govt machinery was invoking ESMA, NSA with such alacrity? Did you not feel that this was an over-kill? Did it not strike to you that there could be more than what meets the eyes? For media people of such high standing in society, these information are only a couple of phone calls away. NO SIR, YOU DID NOT CHOOSE TO DO THAT? Instead you got convinced by the ‘over 200% hike’ slogan unleashed by the Secretaries and the Govt. For God’s sake, these forceful and authoritarian legislations were not even thought of during gravest security threats, barbaric terrorist strikes and national calamities, but the Govt did not even wink twice before unleashing the might of these laws to throttle the voices of the officers community. And you guys found nothing beyond ordinary when this drama was being played out..??
The Indian media did not even notice, when one section of the Govt machinery finds it necessary to throw well researched and far reaching recommendations on of eminent intellectuals on pay structure revision, into the dustbin.
Let there not be any doubts in the minds of the people of this country, we officers of the Oil sector PSUs do not believe in the ‘a shaky wall, just one more push’ philosophy as mentioned by some pervert thinking intelligentsia. We build the nation, build the communities, build harmony and re-build that shaky wall..!!.
Ask the armed forces of the nation, how many of our officers are with them when they are fighting a war. Ask the Railways and the State Transport undertakings, how we help them move the nation. Ask the Power Plants, the fertilizer units and the food and civil supply depts. They all will tell you what kind of walls we are helping them build. We don’t have to go to the Megasthenes period to find out how Oil sector is contributing to this nation. Just ask the people involved in the above-mentioned segments of our economy. They would tell you.
But you did not find it necessary to ask them. Instead you chose to hear ‘his master’s voice’. You labeled us as ‘rent-seeking sons-in-law of Mother India to resort to blackmail and ransom’. Was it we who really tried to bring the country to a stand still or was it the babus, who failed to appraise the political leadership of the impending crisis. The ones, who waited for the whole issue to reach a stalemate so that precipitative actions could be initiated. And the ones who decided let the country come to a grinding halt and see someone else’s head roll. And someone who said let the heavens fall but we will not succumb to their demands because that would allow them to draw more salary than me.
Officer’s of these Oil PSU’s are a naïve lot. They do not believe in the Machiavellian way of getting things done. They had faith in the system and believed that these systems would not let them down. But unfortunately, the systems worked the other way, leaving them with no other options but to fend for themselves. They would have done that probably, but for the evil designs of these babu’s and the well-fed and over weight media houses. So be it. But let there not be any doubt in the minds of these slimy manipulators, these officers will be back, like phoenix from the ashes. And this time more smarter then before. Because now they know their enemies..!!
An Oil man.
Oil Sector Officers Association (OSOA) a conglomeration of officers associations of 14 vibrant and thriving Oil PSUs representing over 55000 officers, was trying to make a case on the systemic subjugation and annihilation of the technocrats of these Corporations by the bureaucracy. And media was out to project as if they were criminals 'unleashing economic terror' on the nation..!! Strong words these.
Lets look at the events as they unfolded:
Pay revision to these officers was due as on 01.01.07, after 10 long years and the same was not finalised even after 12 years. (Some generation gap, one would say..!!). What was eventually announced was a meager 17 % net hike..!! Even if we consider a modest & simple 3% inflation over these 12 long years it should have been nothing less than 36%. (I am not giving the minute details of the numbers involved here because it is there for anyone, who makes a small effort, to find out). And this one time hike is supposed to hold for the next ten years, as the next revision is due only after 10 years as per the present arrangements
And to rub the salt in, this announcement is made by the Committee of Secretaries (COS - read Babus) which has unilaterally brushed aside the recommendations of the learned Justice M Jagannath Rao led Pay Revision Committee for CPSEs, which, for over 18 months, had gone into the whole gamut of issues concerning the pay revision of PSU executives, and made some sensational and far reaching recos. And what does the COS do? Within a month of submission of this report they throw aside these recommendations into the dust bin and come up with a surprise package..!!
Justice MJ Rao, we believe, had a vison, a vision of making these PSU executives into global challengers who could take on the world and still be happy in the environment they were working in. He wanted to bridge the gap between the compensation packages of these throbbing Oil PSUs and the neo-rich Private Oil Companies for whom these PSUs had become the favorite hunting ground for a ready, intelligent and specialized talent. If India wanted to be a world major in the Oil & Gas, this was a pre requisite. This required adequate compensation (not hefty mind you, but adequate) to be paid to these executives and Justice Rao realised this. Inputs were sought and obtained from across the globe, from eminent consultants, intelligentsia and the various stakeholders. There was paradigm shift in the thinking w.r.t the compensation package envisaged. India was at last doing what should have been done decades ago. The ‘Modern Temples of India” were being strengthened against the onslaught of the private MNCs who had cast their eyes on the huge Indian talent. The ‘brain drain’ had began..!!
A package was indeed announced to take cognizance of all of above and much more. A fairly reasonable package we would say, though the Oil executives felt disappointed that the compensation was not comparable to the pay packages of executives in the private sector in India. This is what these Officers of PSUs were trying to bring to the attention of the ministries concerned. ‘Please rationalize our pay else we will be losing all our hard-working brilliant executives to the private oil companies’.
The legitimate Associations of the officers of oil PSUs cried hoarse over the last six months to draw attention of the managements and the ministry to the shortcomings that had crept in the recommendations. Series of meeting were held at the highest levels including the Minister of P&NG, Minister of PE & HI, Secretaries of these ministries, Chairman of the DPE, who have at various times agreed that the demands being made were genuine and even recommended the same to the Government. The Officer’s Associations, on three occasions since Sept’08, issued strike notices to the Managements and the Govt. Representations were made to the PMO by these associations. But alas, nobody felt it necessary to address the issues involved which were going to have a long lasting impact over the lives of over 55000 officers of the Oil PSUs and their families and lakhs of members of the other PSUs. Inspite of deadlines issued, time and again, the people who were supposed to take action, ignored the same.
Looking at the way events have unfolded, it is quite obvious that the babus have sabotaged the whole matter and taken the country to the verge of a precipice. Ministers were fed with false information on the implications of the pay revision benefits. False comfort was given to the political leadership on the consequences of strike calls given by the associations. Managements sympathetic to the cause of officers, were pushed on the back foot with veiled threats. Even as the calls of agitation was getting shriller by the day, recommendations made by the managements on the genuine demands, were brushed aside by the Government at the behest of the ministry officials. What started as a genuine and legitimate movement was being touted as a ‘high-handed act by an obstinate group of officers’.
Let’s pause for a moment to figure out why this was being done by the all and the mighty. (again.. read babus)? Why are these beauraucrats so much against the legitimate needs of the officers community? Why has this struggle become a bone of contention between the more reciprocating managements of the PSUs and the beauracratic establishment within the Govt...?? Is it because the changes being sought in the pay structure would catapult the technocrats above the IAS officers? And to ensure that it doesn’t, is this vested group willing to go to any extent to thwart the attempts..?? Only time will bring out the truth.
However, what we actually know is this:
These officers of the oil sector PSUs are professionally qualified and skilled group of people, who have brought laurels to their respective organisations. Over the years, it is these officers who have gone beyond the line of duty and ensured that the supply lines are live. If today, India is proud of oil PSUs being listed among the Fortune 500 listings and rubbing shoulders with the world leaders, it is thanks to the thousands of such dedicated officers in each one of these PSUs.
Even at times of extreme distress and severe challenges to the country, officers have stood together, shoulder-to-shoulder and ensured that the country’s and organization’s interests are upheld, time and again. Be it at the time of Kargil war, Gujarat earthquake or the devastating Tsunami, all the officers have worked relentlessly round the clock to stand by the nation and have even contributed their salaries to mitigate the sufferings of the masses. Never have these officers found wanting, in their commitment to the nation and to its people. It is associations of such officers who has, on many occasions in the last two years, taken conscious decisions to positively respond to the appeals of the Management and Govt to defer the agitation plans so as to uphold the dignity of collective bargaining, inspite of the strong sentiments to the contrary, expressed by the officers community. That these associations are very balanced, extremely mature and highly motivated is proved beyond doubt, time and again.
And what does the tech savvy media houses and their ill informed reporters see them as? ‘Economic terrorists’, ‘Desh Drohis’, ‘Kasav’s of India’. C’mon, give us a break..!! Can anything else be any farther from truth than this..?? Is the media caught in the clutches of the formidable Govt. machinery?
The elitist media experts including the Shekar Gupta’s and their likes refer to this group of people as ‘greasy palms’ and to quote his lines in one of the recent article posted on line ‘The world, particularly the Pakistanis, must be laughing at us, and LeT and various other Lashkars must be smiling smugly: Didn’t we tell you these Indians, they are a weak state, with weak people, remember the slogan we have loved and believed in for years, “hilti huyee diwar hai, ek dhakka aur do.” (It [India] is a shaky wall, just one more push...).’ Surely, Mr Gupta, you should have known better than that. You are an articulate man, with a deep sense of commitment to the nations interest. People sit up to listen to what you say because you have credentials to have the eyes and the ears of the powerful who matter. But, unfortunately your sense of such commitment was conspicuous by its absence when, for the past couple of years, one highly educated and committed section of the nation was pleading with all and mighty to address their woes. Let me ask one simple question to such opinion makers, Is asking for a just and fair pay structure commiserate with their professional contribution to the nation building, not legitimate? Is it a crime to seek comparable increases in their bottom line, when most of the commercial enterprises across the country were doubling or tripling the wages of their employees to retain them? Is it wrong when we say that a mere 17% net increase over a time horizon of 20 year (1997-2016) was grossly inadequate? Is it criminal to plead “Save us, Save our Companies from the butchery..!!”
Was it not necessary for you to remark on the fact that the Govt machinery was invoking ESMA, NSA with such alacrity? Did you not feel that this was an over-kill? Did it not strike to you that there could be more than what meets the eyes? For media people of such high standing in society, these information are only a couple of phone calls away. NO SIR, YOU DID NOT CHOOSE TO DO THAT? Instead you got convinced by the ‘over 200% hike’ slogan unleashed by the Secretaries and the Govt. For God’s sake, these forceful and authoritarian legislations were not even thought of during gravest security threats, barbaric terrorist strikes and national calamities, but the Govt did not even wink twice before unleashing the might of these laws to throttle the voices of the officers community. And you guys found nothing beyond ordinary when this drama was being played out..??
The Indian media did not even notice, when one section of the Govt machinery finds it necessary to throw well researched and far reaching recommendations on of eminent intellectuals on pay structure revision, into the dustbin.
Let there not be any doubts in the minds of the people of this country, we officers of the Oil sector PSUs do not believe in the ‘a shaky wall, just one more push’ philosophy as mentioned by some pervert thinking intelligentsia. We build the nation, build the communities, build harmony and re-build that shaky wall..!!.
Ask the armed forces of the nation, how many of our officers are with them when they are fighting a war. Ask the Railways and the State Transport undertakings, how we help them move the nation. Ask the Power Plants, the fertilizer units and the food and civil supply depts. They all will tell you what kind of walls we are helping them build. We don’t have to go to the Megasthenes period to find out how Oil sector is contributing to this nation. Just ask the people involved in the above-mentioned segments of our economy. They would tell you.
But you did not find it necessary to ask them. Instead you chose to hear ‘his master’s voice’. You labeled us as ‘rent-seeking sons-in-law of Mother India to resort to blackmail and ransom’. Was it we who really tried to bring the country to a stand still or was it the babus, who failed to appraise the political leadership of the impending crisis. The ones, who waited for the whole issue to reach a stalemate so that precipitative actions could be initiated. And the ones who decided let the country come to a grinding halt and see someone else’s head roll. And someone who said let the heavens fall but we will not succumb to their demands because that would allow them to draw more salary than me.
Officer’s of these Oil PSU’s are a naïve lot. They do not believe in the Machiavellian way of getting things done. They had faith in the system and believed that these systems would not let them down. But unfortunately, the systems worked the other way, leaving them with no other options but to fend for themselves. They would have done that probably, but for the evil designs of these babu’s and the well-fed and over weight media houses. So be it. But let there not be any doubt in the minds of these slimy manipulators, these officers will be back, like phoenix from the ashes. And this time more smarter then before. Because now they know their enemies..!!
An Oil man.
Frontline Magazine Reports on Oil Sector Strike Correctly
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
WHY THERE WAS NO STRIKE IN HPCL
President of hpcl Officers Association Shri.Ashok Singh, was Convener of Oil Sector Officer’s Association (OSOA) also since 1997. Oil Sector had successful salary revision during the BJP regime after an 8 hours strike on 11th Jan. 2000, Later he could stop Privatisation of HPCL/BPCL by a judgement from Hon’ble Supreme Court in Sept. 2003.
Political leadership of MOP& NG and beaurocrat’s were scared of this formidable leader in the oil sector and specially at this crucial juncture while salary revision is due and Parliament Elections are around the corner 3 unsuccessful attempts of strike on 30th May 2006, 5th Sept. 2006 and 21st August 2007, emboldened the beaurcrats that neutralizing the leaders by punitive Administrative measures will break the OSOA, and Govt. can get away by offering peanuts to PSU oil officers.
The sinister design came into play from May 2008, while HPCL officer’s opposing the arbitrary appointment of an Ex HPCL officers as a CEO of HPC’s JV with Colas SA. France (HINCOL), went on a flash strike.HPCL Management under instruction from Shastri Bhavan (MOP & NG) promptly issued charge sheets to Shri.Ashok Singh and r.P.Srivastava for instigating the officer to proceed on flash strike.
Ashok Singh armed with all necessary information received by his Advocate through RTI on a ‘Marker’ system which was introduced by MOP & NG with lot of fan-fare and national publicity, filed a CBI Complaint against them Secretary Petroleum and Natural Gas . Mr.M.S. Srinivasan the UK based Supplier M/s. Authentix and their Indian Agents M/s. SGS Ltd. to Joint Director CBI (Western Region) Mumbai, irked bureaucrats promptly ensured that Shri.Ashok Singh is suspended within 4 days after filing complaint in a misappropriation case for an irregularity in one of the Retail outlets ( He had 140 such outlets) under his jurisdiction along with 2 more officers.
Repeated Appeals to CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) under Govt. of Indias’ resolution for whistle Blower Protection against victimization yielded no result.
Simultaneously HPCL Management rushed to Registrar’s Officer to obtain a letter stating that the Registration of HPCL officer’s Association had been cancelled some times in May 1999 i.e. 9 years before, this fact was well advertised to all officers and Management under threat and coercion made atleast 50% officers to resign from the association. The above registration could not be restored till date, since HPCL is opposing it tooth and Nail in the Industrial Dispute’s court.
Management made no of changes in their existing CDA (Conduct, Discipline and Appeal ) rules to empower themselves for punitive Administrative actions against officers so much so, the authority of suspending any officers below gM’s rank has been given to General Manager , situation in HPCL is such that the word ‘strike’ or ‘Association’ is good enough to suspend an officer.
So, much so HPCL Board in their meetings in June and July 2008, recorded that Management is bent upon fixing the Association leaders.
Basis CBI complaint one spirited citizen of NAPM (National Alliance of People’s Movement) filed a PIL in Mumbai High court on 16th June 2008. Against then Secretary Petroleum, OMC’s Chairman, PPAC, CBI, MOeF, Legal Metrology, Authentix and SGS, Hon’ble Mumbai High Court in their judgement on 23rd Oct. directed MOP & NG, Vigilance and CBI to conduct enquiries. It is reliably learnt that Investigating Agencies have commenced the enquiries. s
R & D of OMC’s have declared in their report dt. 25th Sept. that the alleged ‘Marker’, which was launched as ‘ foolproof’ and most effective weapon against the Adulteration can be laundered by ordinary ‘clay’ Interestingly this ‘marker was procured for Rs. 200 Crores by OMC’s @ Rs.10000/- litre may not be north even Rs. 10/- / litre MOP & NG for reason best known to them discontinued Marker w.e.f. 31.12.2008.
MOP & NG kept on avoiding the strike in oil section on one assurance or the other sometimes by showing a letter written to DPE, or 2 ministers (Petroleum and Heavy Industries) assuring the agitated OSOA Leaders during Sept. October and November 2008,while OSOA gave the final date of 7th Jan. 2009, for an indefinite strike once again government promptly appointed one more committee headed by Hon’ble Home Minister.
Shri.Ashok singh Stepped down from the convenorship of OSOA in Aug 2008, and handed over the reigns to ASTO President Shri.Amit Kumar, MOP & NG which had already tasted blood in HPCL adopted the same tactice and from the day one of strike, adopted arrests, invoking ESMA and unleashing a propaganda of (Deshdrohi) that OSOA is not coming forward to discuss the issue at the same time forced OSOA leaders to remain in hiding for the fear of being arrested. Government ‘ successfully ‘ ended the oil sector strike and saved public at large from “inconvenience’.
HPCL Management (The only Company which did not participate in strike C & MD and his team was “well” appreciated by MOP & NG) suspended officers Association Activist Mr.R.P. Srivastava for instigating the officers to go on strike once again.
Political leadership of MOP& NG and beaurocrat’s were scared of this formidable leader in the oil sector and specially at this crucial juncture while salary revision is due and Parliament Elections are around the corner 3 unsuccessful attempts of strike on 30th May 2006, 5th Sept. 2006 and 21st August 2007, emboldened the beaurcrats that neutralizing the leaders by punitive Administrative measures will break the OSOA, and Govt. can get away by offering peanuts to PSU oil officers.
The sinister design came into play from May 2008, while HPCL officer’s opposing the arbitrary appointment of an Ex HPCL officers as a CEO of HPC’s JV with Colas SA. France (HINCOL), went on a flash strike.HPCL Management under instruction from Shastri Bhavan (MOP & NG) promptly issued charge sheets to Shri.Ashok Singh and r.P.Srivastava for instigating the officer to proceed on flash strike.
Ashok Singh armed with all necessary information received by his Advocate through RTI on a ‘Marker’ system which was introduced by MOP & NG with lot of fan-fare and national publicity, filed a CBI Complaint against them Secretary Petroleum and Natural Gas . Mr.M.S. Srinivasan the UK based Supplier M/s. Authentix and their Indian Agents M/s. SGS Ltd. to Joint Director CBI (Western Region) Mumbai, irked bureaucrats promptly ensured that Shri.Ashok Singh is suspended within 4 days after filing complaint in a misappropriation case for an irregularity in one of the Retail outlets ( He had 140 such outlets) under his jurisdiction along with 2 more officers.
Repeated Appeals to CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) under Govt. of Indias’ resolution for whistle Blower Protection against victimization yielded no result.
Simultaneously HPCL Management rushed to Registrar’s Officer to obtain a letter stating that the Registration of HPCL officer’s Association had been cancelled some times in May 1999 i.e. 9 years before, this fact was well advertised to all officers and Management under threat and coercion made atleast 50% officers to resign from the association. The above registration could not be restored till date, since HPCL is opposing it tooth and Nail in the Industrial Dispute’s court.
Management made no of changes in their existing CDA (Conduct, Discipline and Appeal ) rules to empower themselves for punitive Administrative actions against officers so much so, the authority of suspending any officers below gM’s rank has been given to General Manager , situation in HPCL is such that the word ‘strike’ or ‘Association’ is good enough to suspend an officer.
So, much so HPCL Board in their meetings in June and July 2008, recorded that Management is bent upon fixing the Association leaders.
Basis CBI complaint one spirited citizen of NAPM (National Alliance of People’s Movement) filed a PIL in Mumbai High court on 16th June 2008. Against then Secretary Petroleum, OMC’s Chairman, PPAC, CBI, MOeF, Legal Metrology, Authentix and SGS, Hon’ble Mumbai High Court in their judgement on 23rd Oct. directed MOP & NG, Vigilance and CBI to conduct enquiries. It is reliably learnt that Investigating Agencies have commenced the enquiries. s
R & D of OMC’s have declared in their report dt. 25th Sept. that the alleged ‘Marker’, which was launched as ‘ foolproof’ and most effective weapon against the Adulteration can be laundered by ordinary ‘clay’ Interestingly this ‘marker was procured for Rs. 200 Crores by OMC’s @ Rs.10000/- litre may not be north even Rs. 10/- / litre MOP & NG for reason best known to them discontinued Marker w.e.f. 31.12.2008.
MOP & NG kept on avoiding the strike in oil section on one assurance or the other sometimes by showing a letter written to DPE, or 2 ministers (Petroleum and Heavy Industries) assuring the agitated OSOA Leaders during Sept. October and November 2008,while OSOA gave the final date of 7th Jan. 2009, for an indefinite strike once again government promptly appointed one more committee headed by Hon’ble Home Minister.
Shri.Ashok singh Stepped down from the convenorship of OSOA in Aug 2008, and handed over the reigns to ASTO President Shri.Amit Kumar, MOP & NG which had already tasted blood in HPCL adopted the same tactice and from the day one of strike, adopted arrests, invoking ESMA and unleashing a propaganda of (Deshdrohi) that OSOA is not coming forward to discuss the issue at the same time forced OSOA leaders to remain in hiding for the fear of being arrested. Government ‘ successfully ‘ ended the oil sector strike and saved public at large from “inconvenience’.
HPCL Management (The only Company which did not participate in strike C & MD and his team was “well” appreciated by MOP & NG) suspended officers Association Activist Mr.R.P. Srivastava for instigating the officers to go on strike once again.
Oil PSUs deny govt claim on execs' pay
Oil PSUs deny govt claim on execs' pay
Kalpana Pathak / Mumbai January 28, 2009, 0:19 IST
Contrary to the government’s claim that entry-level officers of the state-owned oil companies earn as much as Rs 1 lakh a month on the basis of the revised pay package, details provided by the oil-marketing companies to Business Standard show that the entry-level salaries are much lower.
At present, the annual cost-to-company (CTC) of an entry-level officer in an oil-marketing company stands at Rs 6.3 lakh per annum, including the annual performance bonus and various allowances, perks and retirement benefit that these officers are entitled to.
read more...........
Business Standard_Oil PSUs Deny Govt Claim on Execs
Kalpana Pathak / Mumbai January 28, 2009, 0:19 IST
Contrary to the government’s claim that entry-level officers of the state-owned oil companies earn as much as Rs 1 lakh a month on the basis of the revised pay package, details provided by the oil-marketing companies to Business Standard show that the entry-level salaries are much lower.
At present, the annual cost-to-company (CTC) of an entry-level officer in an oil-marketing company stands at Rs 6.3 lakh per annum, including the annual performance bonus and various allowances, perks and retirement benefit that these officers are entitled to.
read more...........
Business Standard_Oil PSUs Deny Govt Claim on Execs
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Assam Tribune EDITORIAL: The Oil PSU strike: other side of the story
The Oil PSU strike: other side of the story— A. Krishnatreya (All of you please write a thanks letter to him at edit.tribune@gmail.com. Remember to thank those who tell the facts of both sides and blast those who hide one side of the story.)
During the recent strike by the Oil PSU employees, which badly hit the country’s economy and brought life to a grinding halt in many cities, it was natural for the people to censure the striking employees in the toughest words. This is because of the general perception that oil sector PSUs like ONGC, IOC, GAIL etc are already very highly paid and any further demand for better pay is unjustified. The media left no stone unturned in proving that the striking employees are getting much more than their due and the only way to address their grievances is to suspend them or take strict measures. Yes, it is true that a strike which can cripple the Indian economy is not justified, but why did such a strike have to take place at all? Has anyone presented the other side of the story?
The concept of the Public Sector Unit was visualised by some of our great leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, to make the country self sufficient in certain key sectors like oil, coal and steel. The initial days were tough, when these new units, still in their infancy had to take on the global giants like Shell and Chevron. But as time passed and people gained experience, the experiment proved to be a success and many of the PSUs started making their presence felt not only in the country but also in global business. One among them is ONGC, which started off as a branch under the geological survey of India and in 50 years established itself as India’s most valuable company with assets in 16 countries. Did this happen out of the blue? Certainly not. It happened because of the consistent efforts by a group of highly qualified and dedicated engineers, geologists and executives. But after the collapse of the permit raj and the opening up of the Indian economy, private players came into the picture and the easiest way for them to hire quality manpower was to poach from the State run PSU s which already had a pool of well qualified and dedicated workforce. And this was quite an easy task, because the salary they offered was at least 5-6 times what a PSU employee was paid.
It is a common misconception that OIL PSU employees are overpaid for the job they do almost everyone seems to support this idea. But what they forget is that the OIL PSU officers are drawn from the cream of the engineering and science graduates. The entry criteria are very strict and the national level written tests needed to qualify can be compared to the civil services examinations. Moreover, officers employed through campus placements are also drawn from only the very best institutes. And where do these officers work? Well, the oil sector is a cruel world where there are hardly any white collared jobs, except perhaps at the top management level. So most of them work in fields located at remote areas or hundreds of Miles in the sea. Life is tough and every drop of oil is produced through the sweat of the engineers, quite literally. And at the end of the day how much are they paid? If we compare the gross annual emoluments of the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of ONGC and that of L&T the results are startling! The ONGC CMD gets around Rs. 13 lakh an annum whereas the top boss of L&T gets a staggering Rs. 5.85 crores. If this is the discrepancy at the top level, we can well guess what the situation is like at the lower or middle management level. On an average a private sector oil employee gets at least 5-6 times more than his PSU counterpart. And that too when many a time he is lesser qualified and poorly trained. No wonder that the attrition levels of the Oil PSU s are at a record high.
Another myth among the people is that PSU employees are casual about their work and unlike their private counterparts have little or no responsibility. It is very wrong to equate an Oil PSU employee with a government employee. A PSU employee may have a secure job, but he is certainly accountable for it and many of his variable remunerations are performance based. Targets are set and achieved in record time. Is this possible without hard work? The professional competence of PSU officers have been amply demonstrated in many instances. A glaring example is MRPL, the refinery set up by the AV Birla group as a joint venture in the mid nineties. The refinery was so badly managed that it seldom came into full production of 7MMTPA besides going into huge losses. Finally, unable to manage it, The AV Birla group sold off its stake to ONGC and in six months the debt of the refinery was reduced from Rs. 5500 crores to Rs. 188 crores and in less than 2 years the company started giving profits. At present, MRPL is not only producing at full capacity and earning huge profits but there are plans to increase its producing capacity. Does this not speak of the competence of Public sector Oil companies?
It is often said that privatising is the only sane option left for the Oil PSUs. But what people fail to see is that many of these PSUs are doing much better than their private counterparts. ONGC, for example, is India’s biggest Integrated Oil and Gas Company. Till recently it had the largest market capitalisation (recently overtaken by Reliance) and is India’s most valuable corporate. For the financial year 2007-08, it had a net profit of Rs. 19872 crores and paid a dividend of Rs. 6844 crores to the Indian government (the highest by any corporate). Not just that, it also shared a subsidy burden of Rs. 38500 crores of the downstream oil companies like IOC and BPCL so that the common man can keep buying petrol and diesel at highly subsidised rates. Private players like Reliance stopped selling petrol from their outlets simply because they were not prepared to bear the subsidy burden and so kept their prices high. The contentious issue of the pay commission report tabled by the Justice M.J.Rao committee has to be carefully looked into. It has to be borne in mind that unlike government employees who get central DA, the Oil PSU employees get a variable industrial DA which is substantially. Lower. Moreover, a government employee gets a pension which amounts to 50% of the last salary drawn, whereas a - PSU employee doesn’t have any such scheme. Besides, most of the engineers working in the fields have to work on shifts of 12 hours and in environments which are termed as hazardous whereas all government employees have a maximum 8 hour work per day in safe and secure work environments. So where does the parity between government and Oil PSUs come from? Finally, it needs to be remembered that the burden of paying the revised salary to the employees is to be borne by the PSUs, without any contribution from the government’s side. So why does it not have the independence to fix the pay of its own employees and have to be governed by the government pay commissions? It has been necessary to put all this on record because of the consistent manner in which oil PSUs have been maligned both by the government and the media over a strike which was necessitated by factors created solely by the government itself.
During the recent strike by the Oil PSU employees, which badly hit the country’s economy and brought life to a grinding halt in many cities, it was natural for the people to censure the striking employees in the toughest words. This is because of the general perception that oil sector PSUs like ONGC, IOC, GAIL etc are already very highly paid and any further demand for better pay is unjustified. The media left no stone unturned in proving that the striking employees are getting much more than their due and the only way to address their grievances is to suspend them or take strict measures. Yes, it is true that a strike which can cripple the Indian economy is not justified, but why did such a strike have to take place at all? Has anyone presented the other side of the story?
The concept of the Public Sector Unit was visualised by some of our great leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, to make the country self sufficient in certain key sectors like oil, coal and steel. The initial days were tough, when these new units, still in their infancy had to take on the global giants like Shell and Chevron. But as time passed and people gained experience, the experiment proved to be a success and many of the PSUs started making their presence felt not only in the country but also in global business. One among them is ONGC, which started off as a branch under the geological survey of India and in 50 years established itself as India’s most valuable company with assets in 16 countries. Did this happen out of the blue? Certainly not. It happened because of the consistent efforts by a group of highly qualified and dedicated engineers, geologists and executives. But after the collapse of the permit raj and the opening up of the Indian economy, private players came into the picture and the easiest way for them to hire quality manpower was to poach from the State run PSU s which already had a pool of well qualified and dedicated workforce. And this was quite an easy task, because the salary they offered was at least 5-6 times what a PSU employee was paid.
It is a common misconception that OIL PSU employees are overpaid for the job they do almost everyone seems to support this idea. But what they forget is that the OIL PSU officers are drawn from the cream of the engineering and science graduates. The entry criteria are very strict and the national level written tests needed to qualify can be compared to the civil services examinations. Moreover, officers employed through campus placements are also drawn from only the very best institutes. And where do these officers work? Well, the oil sector is a cruel world where there are hardly any white collared jobs, except perhaps at the top management level. So most of them work in fields located at remote areas or hundreds of Miles in the sea. Life is tough and every drop of oil is produced through the sweat of the engineers, quite literally. And at the end of the day how much are they paid? If we compare the gross annual emoluments of the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of ONGC and that of L&T the results are startling! The ONGC CMD gets around Rs. 13 lakh an annum whereas the top boss of L&T gets a staggering Rs. 5.85 crores. If this is the discrepancy at the top level, we can well guess what the situation is like at the lower or middle management level. On an average a private sector oil employee gets at least 5-6 times more than his PSU counterpart. And that too when many a time he is lesser qualified and poorly trained. No wonder that the attrition levels of the Oil PSU s are at a record high.
Another myth among the people is that PSU employees are casual about their work and unlike their private counterparts have little or no responsibility. It is very wrong to equate an Oil PSU employee with a government employee. A PSU employee may have a secure job, but he is certainly accountable for it and many of his variable remunerations are performance based. Targets are set and achieved in record time. Is this possible without hard work? The professional competence of PSU officers have been amply demonstrated in many instances. A glaring example is MRPL, the refinery set up by the AV Birla group as a joint venture in the mid nineties. The refinery was so badly managed that it seldom came into full production of 7MMTPA besides going into huge losses. Finally, unable to manage it, The AV Birla group sold off its stake to ONGC and in six months the debt of the refinery was reduced from Rs. 5500 crores to Rs. 188 crores and in less than 2 years the company started giving profits. At present, MRPL is not only producing at full capacity and earning huge profits but there are plans to increase its producing capacity. Does this not speak of the competence of Public sector Oil companies?
It is often said that privatising is the only sane option left for the Oil PSUs. But what people fail to see is that many of these PSUs are doing much better than their private counterparts. ONGC, for example, is India’s biggest Integrated Oil and Gas Company. Till recently it had the largest market capitalisation (recently overtaken by Reliance) and is India’s most valuable corporate. For the financial year 2007-08, it had a net profit of Rs. 19872 crores and paid a dividend of Rs. 6844 crores to the Indian government (the highest by any corporate). Not just that, it also shared a subsidy burden of Rs. 38500 crores of the downstream oil companies like IOC and BPCL so that the common man can keep buying petrol and diesel at highly subsidised rates. Private players like Reliance stopped selling petrol from their outlets simply because they were not prepared to bear the subsidy burden and so kept their prices high. The contentious issue of the pay commission report tabled by the Justice M.J.Rao committee has to be carefully looked into. It has to be borne in mind that unlike government employees who get central DA, the Oil PSU employees get a variable industrial DA which is substantially. Lower. Moreover, a government employee gets a pension which amounts to 50% of the last salary drawn, whereas a - PSU employee doesn’t have any such scheme. Besides, most of the engineers working in the fields have to work on shifts of 12 hours and in environments which are termed as hazardous whereas all government employees have a maximum 8 hour work per day in safe and secure work environments. So where does the parity between government and Oil PSUs come from? Finally, it needs to be remembered that the burden of paying the revised salary to the employees is to be borne by the PSUs, without any contribution from the government’s side. So why does it not have the independence to fix the pay of its own employees and have to be governed by the government pay commissions? It has been necessary to put all this on record because of the consistent manner in which oil PSUs have been maligned both by the government and the media over a strike which was necessitated by factors created solely by the government itself.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
TOI- Times Of India News dtd 16-9-2009
At last media has woken up. This is why I read TOI! They do maintain the standards of news reporting and presenting facts to the Public. Alas if only I could say this of some other papers.
Please click on the images to open it in browser and read or click here
Thursday, January 15, 2009
“HOW FAIR OR UNFAIR WAS STRIKE OF OIL OFFICERS”
This refers to the TOI editorial “ Over A Barrel” (Jan 10).
First of all we appreciate your concern about the crisis in right way andwould like to provide some more facts.
It is believed, Judiciary is for justice and media is to bring the facts topublic. As all of us know, the country has just undergone the historicstrike by officers of Oil PSU lasting for 3 days for the first time andthrashed by Govt by imposing ESMA/NSA/ARMY as Brahmastra when it becameuncontrollable on 3rd day.
Though the strike in any form is not a good thing at all and simply causesinconvenience to general public and must be avoided particularly byeducated officers committed to national growth. The biggest question is whythey went on strike. In this strike, there was no slogan/Dharna/damage topublic property and so it was not basically a strike rather abstaining fromwork as they were ignored for many years. It looked as they were novice andwere neither professional striker nor opportunist negotiator otherwise theycould have called off strike when Petroleum minister happened to be kindenough to visit Indian Oil colony late night on 08.01.2009.
CJI had once told that incapable judge to retire and so incapable Govt. machinery must also retire who could not negotiate with officers andmisrepresented the facts to public through news channel. It is the clearmisuse of sovereignty of MEDIA broadcasting one-sidedly and inapt handling.It shows how fair is media and how corrects are their news over which wenormally rely. Instead of making efforts for negotiation, Govt was busy inrepeated announcement of price cut and diverting the issue.
For the information of public, the entry-level officer even does not get 1/3rd salary of what was portrayed in TV. Govt. should not make merry of it, as it is a DEATH of democracy. Striking officers should have also been listened equally. If technocrats will not be respected, there will be moreBRAIN DRAINS. It was a total inept handling of crisis by both sides.
It is PSU who has supplied oil to every nook and corner of the country beat any losses when crude price was soaring high at $145 and even more. Atthat time private sector closed their pump started exporting oil to mintmoney. Where was ESMA/NSA and DESHBHAKTI at that time as Zee TV called themDESHDROHI? Does the Zee TV know the meaning of it? Where goes ESMA/NSA/ARMYwhen political party called strike damaging country in much largermagnitude and harassing general public? They are educated and they respectthe law of land and so when army was directed and Govt had nothing beyondthat and country was in trouble, most probably they called off strike andany way calling strike off was not a matter of SHAME rather a PRIDE.
What Govt could not do, they did by calling off strike and avoided confrontation and arrest? As we know, they are supplying fuel uninterruptedly to every point of the country at whatever profit/loss, theyfought Kargil helping Army shoulder to shoulder, they shared pain withpeople during Tsunami, Bhuj earthquake, Bihar worst flood etc but neverportrayed in news as they feel all these part of their duties. These are national obligation without any credit. Do we think, officers educated fromtop institution of India and working in NAVRATNA company still do not knowthe value of their duties and meaning of lifeline energy source?
Does the public know the fact that their salary was last revised in 1997for 10 years? Does the public know they are still getting salary based onthe scale fixed in 1997? Is it fair anyway or do they not deserve revisedpay even after 12 years and that too Govt delaying for last 2 years underthe clutches of bureaucracy? How much period is minimum for Govt to take adecision for the cause of educated officers? They called off strike becausethey are educated. Had workers called the strike, Govt would never imposeESMA so easily as they are their vote banks. And why Govt. is interferingin wage settlement for executives only?
Basically Oil has become a political game in our country and nothing else. Why their Board of directors was not empowered to decide the pay package of executive also in the same way as it is being done for non-executives whoare 4 times in number having larger financial impact? Had other PSU joinedin strike, situation could have been worse. Why CMDs of PSU have been threatened for exit as per news when they have no power to decide anythingrelated to wages for executive. Media must go into depth and find the facts with figures with all sincerity and honesty looking both sides of the coin. The tireless effort made by the chairman of IndianOil in getting the Stike called off is extraordinarily appreciable.
Zee TV portraying educated officers, as “DESHDROHI”is indeed deplorable. It is felt that Zeenetwork is an insane media institute. Should we take that educated officers have no FREEDOM OF SPEECH in democratic society and have no family obligation besides NATION? These officers work even in remotest part of country for 10 to 16 hours a day. Nation is first and so strike was called off but it could have been calledmuch earlier also. The patience of educated officers for two long years must be appreciated and Govt. must have acted in time to avoid suchsituation. It looks presently like the whole fiasco was created to make aplatform for private sector as an alternate fuel station as crude price hasalready come down to $40 and profit can be made at HOME by private sectorand exporting may not be so profitable now. Why private sector does notconstruct fuel station in Leh Ladhakh whereas Oil PSU feels pride asservice to nation?
It is requested sincerely from core of the heart that the media is havingequally greater role like Oil PSU and must introspect about their dutiesand make efforts to find the facts and make public aware as partnerchannel. Media having important role in nation building as ours and exposethose responsible for recent turmoil created by some of the bureaucratsjust to assuage their ego instead of blaming officers only and claiming victory. Confrontation in all sorts must be avoided to build our nation infuture. It is a lesson learnt for both and both must act to their duties sincerely.
With the facts cited above one can understand the reason of strike and whoblackmailed whom. Moreover, salary of Oil PSU officers should be more thanthe counterpart in private sector due difficult working condition andcommitment to NATION.
Thanks
BN Thakur
Sr. Manager (E), PDO
M- 9416010680
Reply to Editorial in TOI
Future uncertain, present tense for oil PSUs men
The harsh move of the government against striking oil PSUs have unnerved them.
1/14/2009 5:49:31 PM
New Delhi: The tough stand taken by the government against the striking members of the Oil Sector Officers' Association (OSOA) seems to have rocked the rank and file of the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) oil officials.
Atleast 70 officers from different oil PSUs have come in severe spate of the three-day strike called by OSOA in support of its demand for a pay revision.
Sixty four officers of the ONGC and three each from IOC and Gas Authority of India (Gail) were terminated and served notices to immediately vacate their official premises by their respective managements.
Apart from this, around 40 employees of oil PSUs have been suspended and 1,200 Gail employees have been charge sheeted. Strict action against a large number of employees for participating in the strike was also in the pipeline.
Talking to a cross-section of the officers of the oil PSUs revealed that the government's harsh move against the strikers had virtually suppressed their morale and many of them were looking for options in private sector oil companies.
According to an official, it was quite surprising that the government did not take a decision over their demand for a sustainable hike in their salaries and allowances despite the fact that top six oil companies namely Indian Oil, ONGC, BPCL, HPCL, Gail and EIL together netted turnover of Rs 555,924 crore in FY 2007-08 against Rs 346,706 crore in FY 2006-07 registering a growth of 60.3 per cent in FY 2007-08.
Even, the profit before tax (PBT) of these PSUs contributed Rs 45,235 crore in FY 2007-08 against Rs 22,380 crore an increase of 102.1 per cent, he added.
Not only turnover and PBT, the profit after tax (Pat) contribution from 'these six PSUs was Rs 29,363 crore in FY 2007-08 against Rs 15,310 crore, an increase of 91.7 per cent.
"Our hard work gets reflected in the balance sheet," he said.
After having done outstanding results year after year (See Table) is it not the responsibility of the Ministry to reward their employees, asks another officer?
The government move is not going to benefit the state exchequer rather it was pitch forked at vested interests, quips another official.
The OSOA has been fighting for the last two and a half years with no success as the pay revision has been due since January, 2007. Despite assurances from the government nothing has happened and the final outcome was totally against the discussions that had taken place. Not only this, the strike was deferred thrice on October 21, November 18 and December 2 last year.
The Ministry even rejected the recommendations of Second Pay Revision Committee headed by Justice MJ Rao.
Source: http://www.igovernm%20ent.in/site/%20Future-uncertain%20-present-%20tense-for-%20oil-PSUs-%20men/ ent.in/site/ Future-uncertain -present- tense-for- oil-PSUs- men/
__._,_.___
1/14/2009 5:49:31 PM
New Delhi: The tough stand taken by the government against the striking members of the Oil Sector Officers' Association (OSOA) seems to have rocked the rank and file of the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) oil officials.
Atleast 70 officers from different oil PSUs have come in severe spate of the three-day strike called by OSOA in support of its demand for a pay revision.
Sixty four officers of the ONGC and three each from IOC and Gas Authority of India (Gail) were terminated and served notices to immediately vacate their official premises by their respective managements.
Apart from this, around 40 employees of oil PSUs have been suspended and 1,200 Gail employees have been charge sheeted. Strict action against a large number of employees for participating in the strike was also in the pipeline.
Talking to a cross-section of the officers of the oil PSUs revealed that the government's harsh move against the strikers had virtually suppressed their morale and many of them were looking for options in private sector oil companies.
According to an official, it was quite surprising that the government did not take a decision over their demand for a sustainable hike in their salaries and allowances despite the fact that top six oil companies namely Indian Oil, ONGC, BPCL, HPCL, Gail and EIL together netted turnover of Rs 555,924 crore in FY 2007-08 against Rs 346,706 crore in FY 2006-07 registering a growth of 60.3 per cent in FY 2007-08.
Even, the profit before tax (PBT) of these PSUs contributed Rs 45,235 crore in FY 2007-08 against Rs 22,380 crore an increase of 102.1 per cent, he added.
Not only turnover and PBT, the profit after tax (Pat) contribution from 'these six PSUs was Rs 29,363 crore in FY 2007-08 against Rs 15,310 crore, an increase of 91.7 per cent.
"Our hard work gets reflected in the balance sheet," he said.
After having done outstanding results year after year (See Table) is it not the responsibility of the Ministry to reward their employees, asks another officer?The government move is not going to benefit the state exchequer rather it was pitch forked at vested interests, quips another official.
The OSOA has been fighting for the last two and a half years with no success as the pay revision has been due since January, 2007. Despite assurances from the government nothing has happened and the final outcome was totally against the discussions that had taken place. Not only this, the strike was deferred thrice on October 21, November 18 and December 2 last year.
The Ministry even rejected the recommendations of Second Pay Revision Committee headed by Justice MJ Rao.
Source: http://www.igovernm%20ent.in/site/%20Future-uncertain%20-present-%20tense-for-%20oil-PSUs-%20men/ ent.in/site/ Future-uncertain -present- tense-for- oil-PSUs- men/
__._,_.___
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Statement by OSOA Representative
To bring clarity to the fellow countrymen
This is with reference to news broadcasted in Zee News & other news channels on Oil Sector Officers Strike on 8th Jan 09. It was shocking & painful to hear the misleading information indicating Oil officers striking officers as desh drohi/white collar terrorists etc. I regret to say that the reputed news channel like Zee news can give version without verification of facts & blame. You must know that:
- The Oil Sector officers were always amongst the first to contribute anything during the most difficult times of our fellow countrymen. When the violent flood damaged Bihar, we have contributed 57 lacs from our salaries apart from truck loads of foodgrain/clothes/medicines, blankets and human services. We should not remind the contribution of oilmen when Gujarat witnessed the worst earthquake. Apart from Rs.37 Lacs donation, we have rebuilded 50 shelters at Anjar. There are numerous such instances when PSU officers from their salaries contributed for the National Cause.
- Our fellow officer, Sh. Manjunath has got martyrdom fighting the menace of society, the oil adulteration. Today, a award have even been announced for best performance. So many of our officers have led their lives during the service to the nation. The contribution of Oilmen in running the wheels of the country cannot be counted in a few pages.
- Our officers are working in far flung area against all the odds of nature and society like Bombay High, Northeast sector and meeting the energy needs of the Country even in Kargil/Leh/Drass sector of Kashmir.
- The media projection of salaries is totally baseless and misleading. The salaries have been last revised w.e.f.01.01.1997 and were due for revision w.e.f.01.01.07. The salary of the entry level officer before revision is 12000/-(Basic) and 68.8% DA as on 01.01.07 and that of the CMD of the Company is Rs.27750 (Basic) and 68.8% DA. The revision proposed by DPE guidelines issued on 26.11.08 (copy here) shows the entry level at Rs.23000/- PM and CMD of Oil Company (A class company) at Rs. 80000 per month. Then the media projection of salary in the range of 1-3 lacs were misleading and baseless. Even the oil sector PSU’s during their ads for recruitment of officer’s show their gross salary at 5.5-5.6 lacs per annum that includes even the cost of their office chair. ( the ad of IOC for recruitment of officer is here for reference)
- OSOA has made a chronological list of events in the press release dated 03.01.09 (Copy uploaded in our Official Blog) which clearly depicts the Govt. inaction for demoralizing the officers of most crucial sector of independent India-may be because of some vested interests.
- The decision to resort to last unprecedented Strike was taken unanimously by the entire officers’ community comprising of 55000 officers and not by any individual and that too after all the channels of persuasions since last two years, for revision of wages, failed.
- The Govt. has even denied the arrears of allowances like HRA & others related to basic pay for last two years i,e. w.e.f.01.01.07 which was the basic right as they should stand revised w.e.f.01.01.07. The officers annual increment has been reduced from 4% to 3% that too when the PSU’s officers are crippling with multitasking, reduces manpower and poaching by private sector. It must also be noted that Oil PSU Managements have reduced induction of blue collar employees (Workmen category) in the company over the years and their workloads have all been forwarded to Officers, who being the most dedicated, had taken the same on National interests without a murmuring.
- The salary slip for the month of December’08 for the officer after having put 30 years in the organization and the junior most officer for whom this the first salary is being uploaded online for for understanding the propaganda using false statements to defame the officers.
- The salaries of PSU officers are being determined by Ministry since ages and the only difference in the salary of PSU officer and those of Govt. servants is those of a few perqs which they get because of their postings and hardships. Showing the salary of a junior most officer of Oil PSU greater than that of Chief justice of India, is extremely unwarranted and baseless. It must also be noted that all the allowances of PSU men are taxed while the same for Govt. servants are not taxed. Even the meritorious and best performace rewards of PSU men are taxed in their hands
- May I request the media to have a “OPEN FORUM DISCUSSION “in TV Channel on the above subject & call the various concerned officials /dignitaries to have a clear picture to viewers
- Above are my personnel views written on seeing your programme on 8th Jan 09 & have expressed for rethinking to what has been project to world.
We have seen the most unfortunate times during the strike of OSOA members from 07-01-09 to 09.01.09.
Sunil Agarwal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
