Minutes of JCM Meeting with Chairmanship of JS
(Army) on 9.3.2018 - INDWF
Most Immediate
JCM Matter
Government of India
Ministry of Defence
Department of Defence
D(JCM)
Subject:-
'Minutes'
of the JCM Meeting held under the Chairmanship of JS
(Army) on
09.03.2018 at 4.00 PM on the Notice of the 3 Recognized
Federations of
Ministry of Defence for holding meeting to discuss
issues/demands of
Defence Civilian Employees
A copy of the Minutes of the Meeting held under the
Chairmanship of JS (Army) on 09.03.2018 on the above
subject, is enclosed.
2.All
the addressees are requested that the same may be gone
through and an
immediate action may be initiated in the matter and the
Action Taken
Report (ATR)/views/comments on all point(s) mentioned
against each
Section/HQ/Orgns, may be forwarded to D(JCM) Section in
the form of a
'self-contained note' , with the approval of the
JS/HOD/HOO concerned.
3.In
those cases where action on certain point(s) is/are
going on and not
yet finalized, the progress arrived at so far may be
furnished from time
to time to D(JCM) Section till finalization of the
case.
sd/-
(Pawan Kumar)
Under Secretary to the
Govt. of India
Telefax: 2301 1260
Minutes
of the Meeting held on 09.03.2018 under the
Chairmanship of JS (Army)
discuss the issues/demands of the three recognized
Federations of
Ministry of Defence
A meeting was convened under the
Chairmanship of JS (Army) to discuss the issues raised
by the Forum
consisting of recognized Federations of Trade Unions of
Defence Civilian
Employees/Workers vide their notice dated 19th
February, 2018 for
holding ‘Call Attention Strike’ on 15th March, 2018.
JS(LS) was also
present in the meeting. The list of participants is
attached.
At
the outset, the representatives of Federations, and
members of the
Official Side were introduced to the Chairperson.
Thereafter, the Agenda
Points were taken up for discussion.
Demands:
1. To withdraw the decision to declare 250 items being
manufactured by Ordnance Factories as "Non-Core".
2. To not declare 39 items of DEF Group of
Factories as Non-Core items.
3. To withdraw the Govt. order to grant uniform
Allowance to the soldiers in place of stitched
uniforms.
Discussion: The 3 Federation Representatives submitted
the following views:
In
the interest of the Army and their qualitative
requirement of troop
comfort items like Army Logo Uniforms, various types of
battle dress,
parachutes, blankets, boots, tents, jerseys, etc. the 5
OEF Group of
Factories should continue to remain with the same
product profile and
the infrastructure and facilities available should not
be dismantled,
since these factories are war reserve and huge money is
invested in
these factories and that should not go as waste/scrap.
In the past
several times Army has gone to private sector for
procurement of these
items in the name of cost. However, the experience is
that since the
private sector has failed in quality and timely supply
the Army has
again come back to the OEF Group of Factories.
Therefore, these
factories should not be distributed resulting in its
closure in the name
of non-core and outsourcing. According to the
Federations, all these
items are core items only. The Federations are of the
view that the past
experience of the Army will be repeated and if these
established
facilities are not readily available when the Army fail
in procurement
of these items from private sector at that point of
time then again
re-building those facilities of producing troop comfort
items will be
very difficult. In spite of all these facts even then
if the Government
is keen in outsourcing these items, the employees of
these factories
should not be displaced/transferred. The Government may
come with a road
map to decide about the future products to be
manufactured in these
factories then employees may be trained and placed in
the same factory
without disturbing them in their seniority, future
promotion and
protection of wages etc. and also for retaining the
skill by recruitment
of trained apprentices. The Federations also expressed
their deep
concern about the workload and the future of Small Arms
Group of
Factories, Vehicle Factory and GIF, Jabalpur and HAPP
Trichy. They
requested that a positive decision in this regard may
be taken by the
Government to provide sufficient workload to these
factories. They also
requested that the indent for the workload of 2018-19
of the OEF Group
of Factories may be immediately issued since due to
non-receipt of
indent, the factories are not able to place supply
orders for raw
materials. They also requested that the reduced
expenditure budget of
Rupees more than 3,000 crores may be restored to the
Ordnance Factories
in the interest of completion of target. The
Federations also insisted
that the battle field dress like Army Logo Uniforms,
Jerseys, etc.
should not be included in the Uniform Allowance.
Official Side:
Responding to the Federations, JS(LS) mentioned that
all of us are proud
of achievements of OFB and the aim of the policy is to
make the
organization lean and effective. The capabilities of
the private sector
has improved with the progress made in the country.
There are issues
regarding indents of forces not being fulfilled. The
intention of the
Government is to concentrate on the core sector. A road
map/time frame
has been given by the Government for developing vendor
base. The road
map for redeployment of employees will be given for
implementation by
the Ordnance Factory Board. The steps initiated are
towards improving
the future of the Ordnance Factories. He assured that
the reduction made
in the expenditure budget of approximate Rs. 3000
crores is likely to
be restored. Further, he assured that no factory will
be closed and no
employee will be retrenched. As far as possible,
efforts will be made
not to dislodge the employees from their existing
factories/ place of
posting. In case after the stipulated period the Army
do not place
indent for the existing items, then appropriate
training of staff for
redeployment would be considered. JS(LS) concluded that
new
opportunities are opening and needs to be utilized by
the Ordnance
Factories so that the organization grows and scales new
heights.
JS(Army) stated that the items which are included in
the Uniform
Allowance is being examined and will be clarified, and
the case is under
process for releasing the indents for the next
financial year for the
allotted workload. JS(LS) also stated that VFJ is
loaded with
manufacturing of Mine-Protected Vehicle and often the
factory is not
able to deliver the same (the Federations
representatives stated that
the same is due to non-availability of raw materials
etc). JS (LS) also
assured about the future workload of Small Arms
Factories.
Demands:-
4. To withdraw the decision to convert Army Base
Workshops into GOCO Model.
5. To withdraw the decision to close 4 Depots under the
DGOS.
6. To withdraw the decision to close 39 Military
Farms.
7. To withdraw the decision to declare 31012 employees
surplus.
Discussion: The representatives of the Federations
reiterated that the
implementation of GOCO Model in the Army Base Workshop,
closure of
Station Workshops, Depots under DG:OS and Military
Farms may be
reconsidered by the Government and the decision
declaring more than
31,000 employees surplus and the proposed action to
displace/transfer
them may be reconsidered/withdrawn and those employees
should not be
disturbed from their place of works. In MES, the E-in-C
has taken action
for filling up of 17,000 posts through Direct
Recruitment and hence
there is no surplus in MES and the above posts may be
filled up
immediately without any delay.
Official Side: JS (Army) assured that
no employee will be retrenched and the effect of GOCO
Model on
employees of Army Base Workshops and the manpower
requirement of MES
would be considered. As far as possible, all efforts
will be made to not
dislodge the employees from their existing workshops,
depots and MES.
In case of redeployment becomes necessary, appropirate
training will be
given to the employees to retain them in the same unit.
As regards the
concern of the Federations with regard to the surplus
of employees, it
will be our endeavour that employees are not subjected
to hardships.
Demand:
8 Undue delay in holding the DPC for effecting
promotions based on the
Cadre Restructuring of various categories of DGQA
approved by the
Government.
Official Side: JS(LS) assured that the matter
will be
examined and necessary instructions issued for holding
of DPCs and
effecting promotions in DGQA.
The other demands of the Federations
were not taken up in the meeting and it was assured
that regular
meeting will be held with the Federations to discuss
these issues and
the process of implementation of the assurance given
would be monitored.
Conclusion:
JS (Army) concluded the meeting stating that the views
of the
Federations will be placed before the higher
authorities in the
Ministry. He also reiterated the assurance given by JS
(LS) that no
factory will be closed and no employee will be
retrenched. As far as
possible, efforts will be made not to dislodge the
employees from their
existing factories/place of posting. In case after the
stipulated period
the Army do not place target/indent for those items
declared as
non-core to the Ordnance Factories then appropriate
training for
redeployment would be considered. Therefore, he
requested the
Federations that considering the goodwill of the
Government and its
commitment towards the welfare of the employees to
withdraw the Notice
for Call Attention Strike on 15.03.2018. The leaders of
the Federations
stated that in view of the assurance given, they will
deliberate and
consider the decision to withdraw the proposed Call
Attention Strike on
15.03.2018 after receipt of the Minutes of the
Meeting.
The
Federations once again reiterated that in the interest
of National
Security as the country maintains the Armed Forces, the
Defence
Establishments also should be maintained, strengthened
and the interest
of civilian employees should also be protected.
The meeting ended with the vote of thanks to the
Chair.
Source: INDWF
