Central staff to get bonus for 2 years, unskilled workers to get minimum wage of Rs350 per day
30 Aug 2016
Finance minister Arun Jaitley today announced that all central government employees will be getting their annual bonus that has been pending for the last two years. The decision will benefit around 3.3 million employees of the central government.
"The bonus entitlement for 2014-15 and 2015-16 will be released on the revised norms for central government employees. This was pending for two years. After this, the bonus will be covered under the 7th Pay Commission," Jaitley said while addressing the media in New Delhi.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the inter-ministerial committee headed by the finance minister. Earlier, minister of state for labour and employment had held meetings with central trade union leaders wherein detailed discussions were held in regard to their charter of demands.
The meeting decided to strictly implement the Bonus Amendment Act. The central government will pay bonus for the years 2014-15 and 2015-16 based on revised norms. A government notification in this regard is being issued immediately.
The government also decided to take necessary steps to resolve the cases pending in high courts and the Supreme Court with regard to payment of bonus.
The government also decided to fix the minimum wages at Rs350 per day for unskilled non-agricultural workers for 'C' category areas, keeping in view the modalities of fixing minimum wages.
Registration of the contract workers and their staffing agencies have been made mandatory as per law and states will be advised to strictly implement the same. Erring contractors will face appropriate action for any violation in this regard.
The committee will examine the issue of giving social security benefit to the unorganised sector (eg, Anganwadi, Mid-day meal, Asha volunteers etc), which will give its report at the earliest.
Advisories will be issued to all the state governments to ensure that registration of trade unions takes place within 45 days.
The central government has also reiterated its commitment towards tripartite consultation process.
Sector specific meetings will be held to resolve issues relating to respective industries.
Later interacting with media labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya appealed to trade unions to reconsider their call for strike, in national interest.
