NOINO DELEGATION MEETS MANAGING DIRECTOR

             A NOINO delegation met Managing Director Shri A K Dasgupta on 30.12.2011 to discuss the issues concerning Class I Officers as also other pending issues. The delegation consisted of Shri Ganesh Kamath, GS, NOINO; Shri Manish Patankar, President, NOINO, Mumbai & Shri Dattaraj Prabhukhanolkar, GS, NOINO, Mumbai. The following issues were discussed:-           

1.   One more pension option: - We once again raised this demand & enquired about the status. MD replied that currently no steps were being taken to raise this issue with the Government though the issue was already with the Government. He did not sound positive about this issue being solved soon. However, NOINO assures all concerned that this issue will be pursued with all sincerity & seriousness at the appropriate forums.  
2. Batches for promotion: - We pointed out that in the likely batches to be considered for promotion; the 2005 batch of AO’s was not being considered for promotion to ADM. We also pointed out that there were lots of retirements in the coming three years. MD replied that there was a backlog in this cadre & to avoid frustration of the senior AO’s the management has taken this decision. He also replied that the numbers of retirements were also taken into consideration while taking this decision. We have insisted on inclusion of the 2005 batch. We will follow up this issue with the ED (P) shortly.
3. Issues of Leave: - We reminded MD that we had submitted a letter on 26.11.2010 regarding 4 issues: - a) Intervening holidays between CL not to be taken into account as leave. B) Provision of availing PL to be reduced to minimum of 6 days instead of 7 days. C) Minimum 15 days of availing leave while seeking encashment of PL in a block of two years not to be compulsory. D) HRA to be a part of ‘Salary’ while calculating amount for encashment of PL during service. MD was positive about the PL encashment issue where the condition of availing 15 days is compulsory as of now & said that a decision was expected shortly.
4. Anomaly after computer increment: - We reminded MD that we had raised this issue several times including during the recently concluded wage settlement. Recently, we had submitted a letter on 20.8.2011 in this respect. The issue is regarding the officers promoted under Clause 1(B) who are fitted to the minimum of the scale at the time of promotion. Though they have been granted computer increment earlier, the effect gets nullified as they are fitted to the minimum of the scale of AAO. Due to this, an officer who has joined after November 1993 is drawing one more increment than those who have joined earlier. This amounts to discrimination. Even in the case of direct recruit officers, the effect of this increment gets nullified when they are fitted to minimum of the scale in the cadre of AO. The management had assured to look into the matter after & outside wage-revision. However, even after 1 year since the wage-settlement, this issue has not been resolved. We pointed out that in an exactly similar situation, the State Bank of India had in the year 1996 itself (i.e a good 15 years back) rectified this anomaly by granting one more increment to all such affected officers including in the cadre of AO’s. We reiterated our demand that the employees who were getting the computer increment earlier and were fitted to the minimum of the scale on promotion should be granted one more increment either from 1^st November 1993 or from their date of promotion whichever is later OR One more option for re-fixation should be given for all the affected employees. MD admitted that the issue was genuine. However, he said that since his tenure in LIC was coming to an end shortly, it would have to be followed up with his successor.
5. Revision in Tea-coffee re-imbursement expenses:-  MD was not positive on this issue.
6. Sanction of new cars: - We pointed out that the new car approvals for many of the Marketing officers who have already completed five years in marketing are pending for more than 2 to 3 months in many Zones though on an average these cars have run for more than 60,000 kms. These officers are unnecessarily forced to wait for a new car and are running the old cars.  In many cases, the officers have already paid the difference of one time road tax and income tax on perquisite value as informed by the divisional office and new cars are not sanctioned yet. However, MD was not positive on this issue & said that the Zonal Managers are the competent authority in this matter to take a decision.
7. Meal coupons: We reminded MD about our letter dated 19.12.2011 regarding the problems of encashment of Sodexo coupons regarding: - A) Refusal to accept coupons by many affiliates B) Overcharging C) Compelling to buy products for a minimum amount D) Restricting the type of purchase to a few goods. The management had taken cognizance of this & had a dialogue with the Sodexo management immediately. However, we demanded that instead of meal coupon, the management can explore the possibility of meal cards issued by certain banks with much more merchant outlets or ideally LIC should issue such cards on the lines of credit cards. We had raised this demand vide our letter dated 20.12.2011. MD was positive on this issue & said the suggestion for meal card was worth considering though there were some taxation issues with it.
8. Problems associated with EFEAP : - We pointed out that the employees particularly in branches were bearing the brunt of the policyholders due to the problems emanating after the implementation of EFEAP. We also pointed out that even where the implementation was done long back, the problems showed no signs of subsiding.  We pointed out that the SSO’s were also affected badly due to this. We suggested that if a direct link of 2 MBPS between SO’s & Divisional Data Centre & PC’s with increased ram of 1 GB was provided the problems would be reduced. MD replied that though IT was not under his purview, the suggestions would be forwarded to the appropriate authorities.
9. Hike in lease accommodation rent: - We demanded immediate & substantial increase in the lease accommodation rent as there was a steep rise in real estate prices. MD was positive on this issue & said that this issue would be considered shortly.
10.  Allowance to CA’s & to officers acquiring other professional qualifications: - We submitted that in other institutions like SBI where the CA’s were recruited in Scale II & scale III, they were getting paid substantially more. We also pointed out that the CA’s recruited in the AAO cadre were becoming frustrated due to this & were resigning from LIC. We demanded that a substantial allowance on the lines of Actuarial/IT should be paid. We also pointed out that the officers are not paid anything if they acquire the professional qualifications like FIII after they become officers. We strongly demanded that this injustice should be removed forthwith. MD, however, was not positive on allowances. However, he indicated that some alternate way of rewarding the professional qualifications would be found soon.
11. Class III recruitment: - We demanded that Class III recruitment should be started forthwith to reduce the burden on the Class I Officers. MD replied that after the recruitment of Class IV, steps would be taken in this direction.
12. 5 days week: - We reiterated our demand of 5 days week. MD was not positive on this issue.

    NOINO will continue to follow-up the pending issues.