The 12 major ports run by the Centre will raise the wages of its more than 32,000 Group C&D category port and dock workers and some 105,000 Group C&D pensioners by 10.6 per cent beginning January 2017, according to a five-year agreement signed on Thursday.
The settlement will raise the overall wage and pension bill of the dozen ports by about ₹560 crore per annum, a Shipping Ministry statement said. The finalisation of the wage settlement was first reported by BusinessLine on July 13.
The settlement provides for 10.6 per cent fitment on basic pay plus DA. The lowest grade of workers will get a pay-scale of ₹20,900-43,600 and the highest grade worker, ₹36,500-88,700.
“As per the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the welfare of the people is the chief priority of the government, and I am glad that major ports are becoming drivers of socioeconomic change. Major ports have become pioneers in taking this initiative, being the first to sign the wage settlement for Group C&D employees,” said Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Transport and Shipping, who was present at the signing of the wage pact here.
The settlement was signed between six Port and Dock Workers’ Federations and the Port Management under Section 12(3) of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, before the Regional Labour Commissioner who represented the Chief Labour Commissioner.
The wages of port and dock workers at major ports are revised every five years as their wage revision was de-linked from other Central government employees in 1969. The wage revision in many of the major public sector enterprises is done every 10 years.