With New Wage Agreement In Place, Salaries, Pensions Hiked For 1.35 Lakh Port And Dock Workers

The 12 major ports in the country will incur an additional expenditure of Rs 560 crore per annum following a new wage agreement signed with port and dock workers belonging to C and D categories, PIB has reported.

A Ministry of Shipping statement said that 32,000 port and dock workers besides 1.05 lakh pensioners would gain from the pact. This pact was signed in the presence of Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari.

A settlement was reached between six port and dock workers unions and port management in Mumbai on 30 August which will provide for a fitment 10.6 per cent hike in basic pay plus dearness allowance. The workers and pensions will draw their revised benefits retrospectively from January 2017, thus entailing an outgo of nearly Rs 800 crore for the port management.

Port and dock workers pay scales are revised every five years after their wages were delinked from Central government pay scales in 1969. An interesting aspect of the career of port workers is that they stand to lose 30 per cent of their basic salary when they are promoted to officer grade (B category) from C category.

The Port and Dock Officers Association is looking into this issue and has gone to the court seeking remedy. The Madras High Court has asked the Ministry of Shipping to set up a new committee to review the pay with effect from 2012. Once that is accepted and implemented for the port officers, the expenses on salaries will increase further.