As soon as the festive season begins, happiness and eagerness are clearly visible on the faces of lakhs of central employees of the country. Like every year, this time too the employees are eagerly waiting for their annual bonus. Discussions have intensified in the market regarding the Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) given to non-gazetted employees of Group 'B' and 'C'. Employee organizations have started putting pressure on the government to send the bonus money to their accounts before Dussehra. However, this time the biggest question is not only about the date but also about the amount of bonus, because the employees want the government to immediately change the old limit for fixing the bonus.
Good news may be received in the first week of October
The excitement regarding payment of bonus has intensified. Recently on September 25, the Joint Council of Postal Employees has written a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Posts. It has been strongly demanded that the bonus amount should be transferred to the accounts of the employees before the celebration of Dussehra on 20th October and Durga Puja on 21st October. As per tradition, the government pays PLB every year before Dussehra. A senior official of All India Defense Employees Federation (AIDEF) says that a big announcement regarding bonus can be made in the first week of October itself. At the same time, Avinash Rajput, General Secretary of Bharat Pensioners Society, has also expressed full hope of getting the money before the festivals.
Strong demand raised to increase bonus limit
At present, the government has set a monthly limit of Rs 7,000 for calculating the bonus of employees. But many big employee organizations of the country, including the National Council for Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM), are adamant on the demand of increasing this limit directly to Rs 21,000. NC-JCM Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra has written a letter to the Cabinet Secretary saying in clear words that when the government itself has fixed the minimum wage at Rs 21,000, then the limit for calculation of bonus should not be less than this. According to the rules of the Labor Ministry, the minimum wage of unskilled workers is around Rs 21,000, hence the employees are considering this demand as completely justified.
Know how much money will come to your account?
Under the current rules, an average of 30.4 days is calculated on the basis of Rs 7,000, according to which employees get a bonus of approximately Rs 6,908. Employees say that in today's era of inflation, this amount is like a drop in the mouth of a camel. If the government accepts this demand of the employees and increases the calculation limit from Rs 7,000 to Rs 21,000, then the bonus received in the bank accounts of the employees will directly increase to around Rs 20,724, thereby doubling their festive fun.
Protest among employees of armament factories
Resentment is also being seen on this heated issue of bonus. Recently, strong protests are being organized by AIDEF. This protest is against the government's decision in which a provision has been made to give bonus to the employees of four major armament factories of the country for only 18.56 days instead of 30 days. The factories which have been affected include units of Shahjahanpur, Kanpur, Avadi and Hazratpur. The employees union has a strong demand that there should not be any kind of discrimination against the employees of these factories and they should also be given full bonus at the limit of Rs 21,000 for 30 days.