8th Pay Commission: Salary hike that employees wanted and what they finally received in 6th and 7th CPCs

As central government employees eagerly await the constitution of the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC), numerous speculations regarding salary and fitment factor hikes are circulating on social media.

Lesson from 6th and 7th pay commissions

"The JCM-Staff Side, in their memorandum, have proposed that the minimum salary, at the lowest level, should be determined using a need based approach. They have proposed that the minimum wage for a single worker be based on the norms set by the 15th Indian Labour Conference...The minimum pay as suggested in the memorandum is ₹26,000, which is around 3.7 times the existing minimum salary of ₹7,000," the 7th CPC noted in its report.

However, the 7th CPC recommended a minimum salary of only ₹18,000, which was around 157% more than the previous minimum salary of ₹7000 under the 6th pay commission.

"While the broad approach is similar, the specifics do vary and the Commission has, based on need-based minimum wage for a single worker with family as defined in the Aykroyd formula, computed the minimum pay at ₹18,000," the 7th CPC said.

The 6th Pay Commission had also not fully accepted the minimum salary hike demand of the employees.

Various associations of the Staff Side in JCM had demanded a minimum monthly salary of ₹10,000. The Staff Side had also argued that minimum salaries in Public Sector Enterprises were in the vicinity of ₹10,000 per month. Hence, a similar salary should be provided to central government employees as well.

However, the 6th CPC said, "contention, that minimum salaries in Public Sector Enterprises are in the vicinity of ₹10,000 per month and a similar dispensation needs to be extended to the Central Government employees as well, is not based on facts as such minimum salary did not exist in most of the Public Sector Enterprises as on 1.1.2006."

The 6th CPC eventually recommended a minimum salary of around ₹7000.