NOTHING NEW IS COMING UP WITH THE BONUS CEILING ISSUE

THE TODAY'S CABINET MEETING ONLY GAVE APPROVAL FOR GRANT OF PRODUCTIVITY LINKED BONUS TO RAILWAY EMPLOYEES @ 78 DAYS. BUT NOTHING WAS HEARD IN CONNECTION WITH THE BONUS CEILING ISSUE.

Hon.Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State(IC) for Labour and Employment in a press conference on 01.09.2015 has elaborated the initiatives and continuing efforts of the Government to address the issues and concerns of the Trade Unions for the welfare of workers, the Minister said that of the twelve demands of Trade Unions, the Government is positively working on at least nine demands. Hon. Shri Dattatreya had said that for the purpose of bonus, the wage eligibility limit and calculation ceiling would be appropriately revised. It is proposed to revise the wage eligibility limit from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 21,000 and calculation ceiling from Rs. 3500 to Rs. 7,000 or the minimum wage notified by the appropriate Government for that category of employment, whichever is higher. With the proposed revision of the minimum wages, the average calculation ceiling would be about Rs.10,000. But it was surprising to note that today's Cabinet Meeting did not come up with any such issue addressing the major concern of the workers nation wide especially on the eve of forth coming festivals such as Durga Puja, Dussera & Diwali.  

The last revision of Bonus Ceiling was carried out in the year 2008 i.e. shortly after the implementation of Sixth Pay Commission. Hence a question remain is the Government waiting for implementation of Seventh Pay Commission and then come up with the revision of Bonus Ceiling. Wait and watch. But the nation wide workers were hoping for a happy news on the bonus issue from the Government to cheer with their families on the festival eve. Since Bonus with a ceiling that too as low as Rs.3500/- doesn't meet the festival requirements of ordinary workers.