Monday, December 29, 2014

Protest demonstration on 29th December '14

Having failed to get the Insurance Bill passed in Rajya Sabha during winter session, the Government routed the reform to increase the FDI in insurance sector from 26% to 49% through ordinance.

The ordinance was promulgated by the President of India on 26th December 2014.

To oppose the move, the joint front of unions in LIC (NOINO is also a part of which) has decided to hold a gate demonstration during lunch hour on 29th December 2014 i.e. Monday.

All officers and employees are requested to participate in the demonstration and make the protest 100% successful.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

NOINO SUBMITS PROTEST LETTER ON PLLI

Today i.e. 23rd December 2014, NOINO submitted a protest letter to LIC management on PLLI released yesterday. The text of the letter is given below:

23.12.2014.

The Executive Director (Personnel),
L.I.C. of India.

Dear Sir,

Re: PLLI for the year 2013-14

   The instructions for the release of PLLI for the year 2013-14 have been issued. The employees, particularly working in divisions & branches are bitterly disappointed to say the least. The same old story is being repeated. The employees were patient & understanding enough to wait endlessly with a fond hope that this time at least they would get a PLLI on the basis of current basic instead of the pre-revised basic pay of 2007. The circular issued yesterday proved to be a dampener.

   You are aware that NOINO has raised several valid points in the past (refer our letters dated 30.11.11 & 6.11.13 as also our several meetings) objecting to the various aspects that are a part of PLLI. At the cost of repetition, we would like to point out the same once again:-

  1. Equal percentage:-  The percentage of PLLI payable should be equal to all employees. Paying different percentages to each office divides the employees & causes unrest. This does not bode well for an institution which is facing intense & stiff competition. Here, the basic point is that the policy making/devising strategy is done at Central Office level in all matters be it devising plans, marketing strategy, provision of manpower, publicity of our plans et al. The success or otherwise of the institution largely depends upon these policies/strategies.  Branch/Division employees have no say in all these matters. So, it is paradoxical & ironic that the branch/division employees may get less PLLI than that of the Corporate level. Hence we maintain that equal percentage of PLLI should be paid at all levels.
  2. Too many parameters :- Too many parameters have made this concept complicated. We have been insisting on a single parameter e.g. increase in Total income.
  3. Payment on pre-revised annual pay of August 2007:- We have been insisting that the payment should be based on current annual pay.
  4. Performance parameters to be made public (to employees) :- How many employees know what the performance parameters are? How can we expect the employees to achieve the target without knowing it? We reiterate that the performance parameters should be declared before the commencement of the Financial year & all the employees should be in the know of the same.
  5. As far as the parameters itself are concerned, we have also written to you in the past as to how in the case of most of these parameters the employees working in branches/divisions/Zonal offices have no control over & no say in these. Although some of our concerns expressed earlier have been taken care of in the new Matrix for PLLI, our reservations on some points like skill enhancement through training of agents; micro-insurance schemes; e-governance etc. still remain.

   Once again we reproduce the relevant part of our earlier letter which needs to be thought over:-

The objective of any Incentive scheme should be motivating the employees in putting in their best instead of demoralising them. As it is, due to the artificial & low ceilings, an overwhelming majority of the employees have been deprived of the bonus for years together. BMS, the Central trade union to which NOINO is affiliated has putting forth its view that bonus is nothing but deferred wages which is a cushion for inflation not taken care by the skewed DA formula. PLLI could have been our own answer to deferred wages & also an alternative to break away from the “bank pattern”. It still can be, if rational & reasonable suggestions from the employee organizations are heeded.”

   We feel that the management should view the whole concept of PLLI once again in the light of the above valid points so that it doesn’t become a meaningless & frustrating exercise. We demand that all the points above should be taken into consideration & the PLLI should be restructured.

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-
Dattaraj Prabhukhanolkar
GS, NOINO

Friday, December 12, 2014

STRIKE BY JOINT FRONT IN LIC AGAINST HIKE IN FDI IN INSURANCE

NOINO has decided to observe a one-day strike against the proposed hike in FDI in Insurance from 26% to 49%. NOINO has been consistently opposing the introduction as well as hike in FDI in Insurance. Our stand remains unchanged. Our Central Trade Union, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) has also given a clarion call to all trade unions to oppose this Bill. 

THE STRIKE WILL BE OBSERVED ON THE FOLLOWING DAY (NEXT DAY) OF THE PASSAGE OF THE INSURANCE LAWS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2008. Almost all the trade unions in LIC have decided to join hands for this strike.

We appeal to all the employees and officers to make the strike a grand success.