Labor organizations on Monday urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to restore the old pension system (OPS) as well as create a credible social security framework for workers in the unorganized sector.
Organizations not involved in the online meeting
The joint platform of ten labor organizations in an e-mail sent to the Finance Ministry on Monday put forward their demands regarding the next budget. However, these organizations did not attend the online meeting called for pre-budget discussions.
Pension scheme is based on contribution
National Pension System (NPS) was implemented from January 2004 by abolishing OPS during the tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. NPS is a contribution based pension scheme and there is no provision for dearness allowance. After increasing complaints of employees getting less amount of pension under NPS, labor organizations have intensified their demands for re-implementation of OPS itself.
Meanwhile, some states like Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Punjab have announced re-implementation of OPS for their government employees.
Organizations want to have face-to-face meeting
Forum of labor organizations said, ‘Government should re-implement the old pension system instead of NPS by giving contribution on its behalf.’ These organizations did not participate in the online meeting, demanding a face-to-face meeting with the Finance Minister. Each organization was given three minutes to present their demands related to their area.
Demand to increase the minimum pension amount , however, SP Tiwari, general secretary of the Trade Union Coordination Center (TUCC), who attended the pre-budget consultation meeting, also said that in the meeting there was a demand for restoration of OPS instead of NPS. Along with this, a demand was also made to increase the amount of minimum pension from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000.
Demand for increase in mental honorarium
Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) said that apart from increasing the amount of minimum pension, it should also be linked with dearness allowance, so that the needs of the pensioners can be met. BMS also demanded the government to allocate more funds to the unorganized sectors. Apart from this, there has also been a demand to increase the monthly honorarium to the workers associated with Anganwadi, Asha and mid-day meal schemes.
