Federation of Retired SAIL Employees(A Forum for the welfare of the Retired Employees of SAIL)
|
SAIL
ignoring its Retirees - Statement of Fact and Appeal
26.09.2014
It has been
quite an experience which followed five years of one sided correspondence with
SAIL and, a number of departments and officials of the Govt of India including
the Prime Minister, for and on behalf of SAIL Retirees by SAIL Ex-Employees
Association (ref. http://saileea.blogspot.in), an
affiliated member Association of the recently formed Federation of Retired SAIL
Employees (FORSE) related mostly to the pre-2007 retirees numbering about 35000
as of now and 70000 of those retired post-01.01.2007. The emphasis of the
approach was to request SAIL to
formulate and implement schemes for various types of relief to both categories
of the Retirees and their spouse in line with the Govt. advice given through
DPE OMs for ‘creation of a corpus
for retired employees of SAIL with 1.5% of the PBT’ for pre-2007 retirees and
similar action for the post-01.01.2007 retirees. As of now it is already
lagging behind by 5 years. It is
interesting to note that SAIL never responded to our direct communications,
except through RTI. It failed to agree to a meeting with its retirees’
representatives except for once when SAIL Chairman was persuaded by an MP and
the meeting ended with a pep talk and assurances that were never fulfilled in
last 2 years. Action taken against our request for arranging a meeting with
FORSE, pension and inefficient functioning of mediclaim matters with SAIL,
National Insurance Company and the TPA E-meditek all through these 9 months are
also not very encouraging. It is a point to note that on the contrary, ONGC
holds periodic meetings with its retirees’ representatives on a regular basis.
The two
responses received lately from SAIL dated 3rd and 9th May
2014 came only through the office of the President of India (can be seen in http://sailex.blogspot.in/2014/05/letter-to-sail-chairman.html ) the last
sentence of the 3rd para of which reads as “….SAIL has spent an
average of 2% of the PBT on providing Mediclaim coverage to all ex-employees
and their spouses.” SAIL has gone to silent mode again and the letter to SAIL
Chairman dated 26th May 2014, (in the above link) pointing out that
it was a wrong interpretation of the DPE OMs by SAIL which were clearly made
out in the light of the suffering of the retirees due to the insufficient post-retirement
benefits esp. in view of the current mode of the national economy with the
uncontrolled price rise and ever rising cost of living including health care,
remained unanswered. It is demeaning for a Maharatna like SAIL to ignore the
Govt. advice made through the DPE OMs and, dump the idea of welfare of the
early retirees and treat them in this manner. SAIL should
have acted the way the Oil sector companies did. Even after spending more than
2 % of the PBT before the DPE OMs came the Oil sector Maharatnas followed the
OMs, prepared and implemented the schemes which carries pension, ex-gratia and
emergency payments alongwith the medicare of their retirees at par with the
current employees. Since the corpus is to be created from SAIL’s Profit, no
budgetary support is required. SAIL also
need to keep in mind that as these pioneer retirees are 70 and 80 years old, the corpus will not be required perennially.
It must not be forgotten by SAIL that the strong foundation laid by these pioneers in the formative years (1950s/60s) and the commitment,
hard work and contributions made by these retirees under very hard times
contributed to make SAIL the pride of the nation as Maharatna
today. Also that SAIL has
attained this stage only by virtue of its consistent financial strength and its
contribution to development of the country in various aspects.
In
view of the fact that SAIL has cumulative Reserve/Cash Surplus of Rs.38536 crores as on 31st March of
FY 2013-14, the total contribution to exchequer till 2013-14 must be more than
Rs. 120, 000 crores and the total of PBT from 1.1.2007 till 2013-14 is Rs.
52272 crores (including 1/4th of 2006-07) creation of a good scheme
is quite a feasible proposition. As
it stands Finance is not a problem for SAIL as it has been earning profit for
more than 10 years. Since the principle
of the creation of corpus for pre-2007 retirees is accepted by the Government,
no further approval of Parliament is required and it requires only an
Administrative decision for
time-bound implementation. In the light of such a strong financial position there
is no visible and comprehensible reason for the overall
out and out negative attitude and approach of SAIL with respect to the retirees
and it is strongly desired that the Government must advise SAIL suitably to act
in favour of the retirees.
The pre -
2007 retirees who are in their 70s and 80s had retired at a time when inflation
was not a big menace and most of the banks paid a handsome rate of interest
which were in the range of 12% to 14%, some investments also brought 17-18%
return. But times have changed. Now the rate of interest ranges between 9-9.5%.
They are put to lot of hardship at twilight of their life due to lowering of
income from investments on one side and astronomical increase in cost of living
since they retired with meager sums and the increased expenditure on health
care (beyond reimbursed amounts) due to old age ailments on the other side. SAIL should
also take the blame for not providing Health care of any standard which was and
continue to be their committed responsibility which was shifted to mediclaim
insurance on some pretext or the other, the quality of which is extremely poor
and follows a downward slope by the day. In spite of the exponential price rise
in medicines SAIL is sticking to the same Rs. 4000/- per member per year for
60-70 year old which was fixed 19 years ago in 1995 and Rs. 8000/- for 70+ year
old members done recently. For over one lakh retirees SAIL’s claim in the
letter in the above link “SAIL has sufficient facilities/ schemes in place to
take care of the medical requirements of its ex-employees including Executives,
as envisaged under DPE OMs dated 08/07/2009 and 20/07/2011 with respect to
‘Creation of a corpus for retired Executives of CPSEs’ is quite hollow and it
needs re-thinking by SAIL and the Govt. with an open mind, with the letter and
spirit of the OMs and the prevalent sense of responsibility and mood in sister
Maharatna PSUs.
In the 2014 post-general election days three
letters sent to the Prime Minister, one to the Finance Minister and 4 letters
to the Union Minister of Steel and three letters to Chairman SAIL and similar
letters to a dozen of Members of Parliament, in addition to numerous telephone
calls, for help in this regard did not have any effect. In summing up of the issues before the Federation the history of
the organized sector like SAIL does not
warrant appreciation as it did not implement any pension scheme for the pre-
2007 retirees which needed to be dealt with some urgency, and SAIL has not been
impressed upon so far by the political masters to change their stance in favour
of the retirees.
Having regard to the facts explained in above
paras the basic approach of FORSE is to appeal to the conscience of SAIL and the Govt. of India (i) to hold
joint meetings periodically with FORSE representatives on all issues including
in negotiation with the insurance companies/TPA regarding mediclaim since
retirees contribute about 15% of the total subscription for mediclaim
insurance. (It is legally and technically required to involve FORSE in
negotiation on mediclaim insurance) (ii) to permit SAIL to transfer unclaimed
money available with the PF Trusts of SAIL Plants and Units to the proposed
corpus, (iii) transfer back 1 % of the dividend from SAIL to the corpus and
(iv) to advise SAIL to raise the limit in the OMs of DPE from 1.5% to 3-4%
(till a reasonable corpus is built up to enable to pay a decent pension) and
(v) formulate better schemes for the pre-2007 retirees which should include a
Healthcare programme for treating all the retirees at par with the working
employees and 100 % coverage like Oil sector companies do for their Retired
employees or a Mediclaim policy fully subscribed by SAIL (without sharing of
the subscription by the Retired Employees) with indoor treatment limits raised
to Rs. Four lacs for each of the retiree and the spouse, and OPD limits to Rs.
20000/- with floating arrangement for both OPD and IPD. SAIL can also benefit
its retirees by opening Fixed Deposit schemes for its retirees with the rate of
interest at par with those borrowed from the market. Govt. of India needs to increase
the interest rate on Fixed Bank deposits of the retirees and action to enhance
the concession and facilities for Senior Citizens in Hospitals, transport,
public utility services by incorporating newer policies.
FORSE also strongly
recommended to SAIL to utilise the services of the physically fit
retirees as much as possible by giving them specific assignments on contractual
basis. This can be done with the active help of the Federation (FORSE) or its
Member Associations. In the light of the recent statement of the Union Minister
of DoPT for re-employing the Govt retirees, with years of experience behind
each one of them, becomes more relevant.
It would only be fair, at this stage, to put on record the ironical situation that other than the
early retirees of industrial CPSEs, all other retirees of other CPSEs such as
LIC, Nationalised Banks, Government Insurance companies, BSNL, Railways etc are
all getting substantial pension besides benefits such as additional interests
for bank retirees, free phone calls for BSNL retirees, free travel concessions
for Railway retirees etc. The paradox is that the industrial retirees of CPSEs
were government controlled employees but not government employees for pension.
They are public servants for all purposes except for Pension and
post-retirement benefits. It is expected that the Govt would view the cause of
these Very Senior Citizen Retirees (those retired before 2007) who are now 70 +
with compassion and not by the rule-book alone which itself is doubtfully
incorrect at many places.
The stories
related to the indoor treatment is much worse as the mediclaim policy taken
through an insurance company and operated through a Third Party Administrator
(TPA) is extremely inefficient, yearly renewal of membership for the same
members, without a standard procedure for settling the grievances. upto 6-8
months’ time taken for issuance of Mediclaim ID card and the information
brochure, almost 6 months to a year for settlement of paid hospital Bills,
patient being held by the hospital as a prisoner because of delayed payment
clearance by the TPA, overruling of the specialist doctors of the hospital by
the Doctor sitting at distance employed by the TPA. TPA withdrawing recognition
of the Hospitals for cashless treatment at its own will without any information
to the members in advance has ended up with at least one suicide to our
information by our member Asit Nandi (IISCO). He committed
suicide on account of sheer financial inability to meet his medical expenses.
The Federation intervened to help him but before he received the payment he had
popped off. Thousands of such of our colleagues-
in- arms of yesteryears- are reported to be silently suffering and finally
vanishing. It should be clear to all concerned that the SAIL retirees
are not on begging spree but it should be obligatory on SAIL authorities to
take care of the retirees on whose hard work the Company is a Maharatna today.
The
Federation also finds the action of SAIL management for not initiating,
preparing and implementing Pension schemes for the post-01.01.2007 retirees as
disgusting whereas its sister PSU-RINL-has got approved a scheme
(with 10% of total salary of each employee as company contribution by it) by
its Board. This is lying in the Ministry since July 2011 without any action;
perhaps waiting for SAIL to clear a scheme. It may please be noted that most of
other PSUs – BHEL, NTPC, NLC, Oil PSUs. etc- have already implemented. Out of
sheer inefficiency and absence of strong will SAIL has shifted the date of
implementing the pension scheme for this category of employees from 1st
January 2007 to 2012.
It is
important to examine the contents, meaning and end effect of the private
member’s bill introduced on National
Minimum Pension (Guarantee) Bill, 2014 to cover pension of retirees of
unorganised and private sector through which our voice-voice of FORSE-
reverberated in the Lok Sabha. Hon’ble Sri Nishi Kant Dubey, BJP MP from Godda
read out on 8th Aug. 2014 the major portion of our letter dated 26th
July 2014 and successfully drew attention of the House and showed concern for
the cause of the SAIL Retirees. It can be seen in pp 397-8 in http://164.100.47.132/newdebate/16/2/08082014/5To6pm.pdf It makes it amply clear that
the MPs and Ministers etc are also not aware of the fact that even the
organised sector of the Government do not have any pension scheme for pioneer
retirees of the PSUs.
The aforesaid facts are quite discouraging and upsetting to the
members. In view of this some of our members have
suggested for agitational approach if SAIL does not act within a reasonable
time limit. With progress in time this will be further discussed and
appropriate decision may be taken
as per resolution taken by the Apex Council on 21st Sept. 2014 which
may include dharna, demonstration, hunger strike etc. in front of SAIL offices
in respective towns and cities and also the offices of the concerned Govt
authorities. Before taking the agitational path FORSE members propose to bring
the aforesaid facts to the kind notice of the Honorable MPs of their area the
plight of the pioneer retirees of the organized sector of like SAIL which is
owned by Government itself. FORSE members have huge expectation from the Media
to take action on the same lines to bring awareness on this issue of Senior
citizens of the pioneering batches of SAIL employees.
(V. N. Sharma)
Chairman
M: 9431102680,
Ph:0651-2441524
