सोमवार, 13 अप्रैल 2015

SAIL ignoring its Retirees

SAIL ignoring its Retirees - Statement of Fact and Appeal for Action

21.09.2014

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 SAIL is already lagging behind by 5 years whereas Maharatna companies like Oil sector and others have implemented the DPE OMs. 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 of SAIL with FORSE, formulation of pension / post retirement benefit schemes and inefficient functioning of mediclaim insurance and corrective action  in association with National Insurance Company and the TPA E-meditek, all through these 9 months were also not very encouraging as if retirees were a non-existent entity. 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.” This is a concocted deceptive claim by as SAIL appears to have exaggerated the figure by including the Healthcare expenses of the post-2006 Retirees in this data whereas SAIL is providing in its accounts 30% of total salary payment over and above it towards retirement benefit such as Gratuity, PF contribution by SAIL, Health benefit & Pension for post-2006 retirees. It must be noted that 1.5% of PBT in the DPE OM is only for pre-2007 Retirees.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, instead, 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.

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 prevailing sense of responsibility and mood in sister Maharatna PSUs.

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 comprehendible 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 intervene and advise SAIL suitably to act in favor of the retirees. After all the retirees are not here to exist for ever and do not have time to wait for indefinite period for SAIL to take a favorable decision. 
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 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 SAIL’s record in relation to its retirees 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 favor 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 separately, 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. 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. Govt. of India also 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.

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 due to yearly renewal of membership for the same members, absence of a standard procedure for settling the grievances. 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 employed by the TPA in its head office, large number of listed cappings. 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 known case of suicide to our information by our member Asit Nandi (IISCO). He committed suicide on account of sheer financial inability to pay back the borrowed money from his relatives and friends due to the TPA not reimbursing his medical expenses in more than 3 months period. 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 SAIL Board Members, 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

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