8th Pay Commission: Uniform Fitment Factor for all Central Govt Employees?

8th Pay Commission: NCJCM seeks Uniform Fitment Factor for all Central Govt Employees?

As anticipation builds for the 8th Pay Commission’s recommendations, the National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) has put forth a crucial demand: a uniform fitment factor for all central government employees, irrespective of their pay bands. This call for equitable treatment aims to bridge the gap between higher and lower-paid employees, ensuring a just and fair pay structure for all.

Current Scenario: Disparities in Fitment Factor

In the existing system, the fitment factor, which determines the multiplication of the basic pay for revised salaries, varies across different pay bands. This disparity often results in lower-level employees receiving a smaller percentage increase in their salaries compared to their higher-level counterparts. The NC-JCM argues that this system perpetuates income inequality and needs to be rectified.

Also Read: 8th Pay Commission Latest News & Orders

NC-JCM’s Demand: Uniform Fitment Factor

The NC-JCM, representing various central government employees’ unions, has urged the 8th Pay Commission to adopt a uniform fitment factor for all employees, irrespective of their pay bands. This would ensure that all employees receive an equal percentage increase in their basic pay, promoting a sense of fairness and equity across the workforce.

“We want the fitment factor to be same across all pay bands, whether it is Pay Band 1 or Pay Band 4. This will be our demand before the 8th Pay Commission,” NC-JCM (Staff Side) Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra told NDTV Profit.

According to Mishra, if there is a standard fitting factor, all employees will have the same multiplication factor used for compensation revision, regardless of the pay bands they are bracketed under. 

Under the 7th Pay Commission, 2.57 was the fitment factor used to revise the pay of workers in Pay Band 1. However, the panel increased the fitment factor to 2.62 for Pay Band 2, 2.67 for Pay Band 3, and 2.72 for higher pay grades under Pay Band 4 using a rationalization index. The 7th Pay Commission has suggested a fitment factor of 2.81 for the apex level salary modification after accounting for the index of rationalization, NDTV reported.

The index of rationalisation is decided by the pay commission. The general approach is that those burdening greater responsibility should get higher pay rise. But our demand is that fitment factor should be uniform to reduce the gap between the maximum and minimum salaries,- Mishra told NDTV.

The 4th Pay Commission had talked about the need to reduce the vast gap between minimum and maximum salaries. But since then, the gap has only increased. In our view, the 8th Pay Commission should recommend a uniform fitment factor to address this, Mishra, who is also the general secretary of the All India Railwaymen’s Federation, told NDTV.

In a meeting with the Department of Personnel and Training last week, the NC-JCM staff side also demanded that unviable pay scales be merged. They called for level 1 and level 2 pay scales to be combined, level 3 and level 4 pay scales to be combined, and level 5 and level 6 pay scales to be combined.

This is important to address as non-viable pay scales lead to pay stagnation, and thereby affect MACP (Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme),” Mishra told NDTV.

The fitment factor for salary revision under the 7th Pay Commission is 2.57 for the first pay band and 2.81 for the highest level. The common fitting factor might have been between 2.57 and 2.81 if there had not been an index of rationalization, another NC-JCM member stated on condition of anonymity.

According to employee unions, the fitting factor would have been higher than what was advised for people under Pay Band 1 if the index of rationalization had not been applied.

The 8th Pay Commission, approved by the government last month, is set to consist of a chairman and two members. After its formation, the commission will discuss its report with stakeholders

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