Submission of letter to CPMG by JCA Chennai GPO-for Cadre Restructring

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEE Group-c [FNPO]

ALL INDIA POSTAL EMPLOYEES UNION Group-C [NFPE]

CHENNAI GPO, 600 001.

                                                   Dated 29-03-2017

To,                                                                                                       

The Chief Postmaster General,

Tamilnadu Circle,

Chennai – 600002.

                                                [Through proper channel]

Respected Sir,

                        Sub : Request to keep the implementation of Cadre Restructuring proposal of Chennai GPO in abeyance till amicable settlement of the issues raised by the staff side- reg.

                        Ref : Dte. Memo No. 25-04/2012-PE-1 dated 27-05-2016

            I profoundly submit the following on the aforesaid subject for kind consideration and request to take appropriate action to Cadre Restructuring proposal of Group-C in Chennai GPO. In this regard a kind reference is invited to the letters already submitted by the Secretary General of FNPO and NFPE to the Secretary [Posts] and Member [P].

1.                  The posts in post offices viz. System Administrator, Business Executive, CPC Supervisor, PLI Group Leaders, Supervisor Clearing, CTS Clearing, DBT Clearing, Supervisor E-payment Nodal, POID Card Nodal etc. May be upgraded to LSG, HSG-II and HSG-I under Cadre restructuring accordingly.

2.                  The post of Treasure need not be upgraded to LSG, as it is a two-year tenure post with special allowance. In case, the Treasurer posts are to be upgraded then the tenure shall be four years with allowance at par with LSG. The supervisory work  performed in Savings bank, Money order, Registration, Speed post, Delivery, Administration, PLI-CPC, SB Clearing, DBT Clearing, Accounts, E-payment Nodal, POID card Nodal were ignored and left over and not considered for up gradation to LSG in Cadre restructuring. 

3.                  In the cadre structuring orders, the number of post of LSG and Pas have been identified as follows at Chennai GPO.

LSG                  9 posts

PA                    175 posts

As per the promotion ration comparison in Cadre restructuring review, there should be 1 LSG post for every 3 Pas [1:3 ration] and accordingly, this office is entitled to have nearly 58 LSG posts where as only 9 LSG posts were identified.

4.                  Out of 9 LSG posts allotted to this office, 6 posts are identified for Treasury branch. This means all the standard LSG officials now holding norm based supervisory posts will have to work as Postal Assistants in Treasury branch.

5.                  Since only 9 LSG posts were identified at Chennai GPO, the Postal Assistants who are considered for LSG posts as per Circle gradation list will be offered posts in other divisions which will have cascading effect of further reduction in PA cadre and this create unrest among the officials and also deficiency in service to the general public due to reduction of PAs

6.                  Most of the Postal Assistants at this office who are due for promotion as LSG in Cadre restructuring [for which the grade pay has been fixed as Rs.2800/-] have already reached the grade pay of Rs.4200/- and Rs.4600/- and the promotion to LSG will not at all benefit them.

7.                  If LSG promotion is accepted by the officials, then there will be large number of supervisory posts in HSG-II and HSG-I will remain vacant for long time and in order to fill these posts, minimum qualification of service for promotion shall be removed as a one-time measure after obtaining permission from Nodal ministry. Also, all the officials eligible for promotion in HSG-II/HSG-I shall be given notional promotion. Such notional promotion was granted from 1983 for LSG and from 1991 for HSG-II/I.

8.                  Although the Cadre restructuring proposal signed by the staff side and the Administration side during the year 2008, it has been decided to implement this year after a gap of nearly 9 years. Due to this inordinate delay, there will be large scale dislocation of senior officials leading to much difficulty to them and their families and moreover there will be no financial benefit to them as they all reached the LSG/HSG-II/HSG-I pay scale after getting MACP-1, MACP-2 and MACP-3 promotions.

                 Hence, taking the above valuable points into consideration, the JCA of Chennai GPO urges the Administration to consider minimal disturbance of staff so as to avoid decline in business performance and maintaining the positive upward trend of this office.

It is once again requested to keep in abeyance the implementation of cadre restructuring proposal till the genuine demands of the staff side are redressed in an amicable manner and a negotiated settlements is reached between official side and staff side.

We hope the Chief Postmaster General Tamil Nadu Circle will understand the genuine difficulties of the officials who are to be promoted under Cadre Review a positive and helping hand to ameliorate their grievances on Sympathetic and humanitarian consideration

.

A line of reply on the action taken is highly solicited.

D.A. PJCA [Cadre restructuring]

                                                                        Yours Faithfully,

Branch Secretary                                                                                            Branch Secretary

APIEU – P3                                                                                                      NAPE – P3

Copy to

1] The Secretary General [FNPO AND NFPE], New Delhi – 110001

2] The General Secretary, NAPE-P3 and AIPEU-P3, New Delhi- 110001

3] The Circle Secretary, NAPE-P3 and AIPEU-P3, TN Circle, Chennai – 600002.

Submission of letter to Chief Postmaster,Chennai GPO for Cadre Restructuring

 To

The Chief Postmaster,

Chennai GPO-600001

Respected Sir,

Sub: - Cadre Restructuring in Group-C –C/O Chennai GPO 600001- Reg

Ref:     1. D.G. Post letter No. 25-04/2012-PE-I dated 27th May, 2016.

            2. C.O memo no ESB/15-Cadre Gr –C /2016/HSG Dated 28-02-2017

3. C.O memo no ESB/15-Cadre Gr –C /2016/LSG Dated 28-02-2017

A kind reference is invited to the memos cited above.

While appreciating the concept of the cadre restructuring in Group-C cadre by the Department, many branch unions have reservations in identifying the Posts for upgradation and in the process of implementation.

This is very much pertinent in respect of Chennai GPO which has strong apprehensions in the minds of the officials particularly among the officials in the ‘senior most’ zone in the newly drafted Circle Gradation List Postal Assistant.

First of all, it appears that the suggestions put forth by this branch union for identifying the post for upgradation and also the manner of implementation have not been heeded by the administration.

To elaborate the issue for clear understanding, our service unions put forth the following suggestions in nutshell for reconsideration and requesting for fresh amendments in identifying the Posts.

At present the following are the establishment of Chennai GPO.

HSG-I                         8 Posts

HSG-II                       4 Posts

LSG                            30 Posts

Postal Assistants        184 Posts

In the cadre restructuring orders the following posts have been identified for this office:

HSG-I                         12 Posts

HSG-II                       30 Posts

LSG                            9 Posts

Postal Assistants        175 Posts

Chennai GPO is a prestigious office and the status has to be maintained to have the legacy of the Department and of the Circle.

At present 7 sevenHSG-I posts are vacant and now it will be 11 vacant post in HSG-I after cadre restructuring which will definitely affect the performance of the office. There is no point in identifying posts in Higher Cadre keeping very lean establishment in lower operative level posts such as LSG and Postal Assistant. It will be like a huge Head with very weak and feeble limbs.

Similarly, in HSG-II category, after cadre restructuring, this office will have 30 Number of posts. Here again at present there are only  Post filled in resulting in leaving behind all the other  post vacant.

Therefore, all the posts in HSG-I and in HSG-II could not be filled in near future, as the officials with required qualifying service conditions may not be available in near future. Not only that if more number of Supervisory posts are identified the operative nature of counter works and back office work will be affected as these HSGI/HSG I officials could not be forced to work in clerical posts till such time all the posts are filled in.

More over due to identification of large number of LSG posts in Circle, the senior most officials in Chennai GPO will be promoted in PA cadre and be posted in other Divisions as only 9 post in LSG grade is identified. Of these 9 LSG posts, 6 Post are identified for Treasury Branch. This means all the standard LSG officials now holding norm based supervisory posts will have to occupy the Treasury Post and work as Postal Assistant in Treasury Branch. Apart from this, out of 11 LSG officials working in Chennai GPO now, two have to move out of office if Cadre restructuring implemented in LSG cadre unless the service condition for filling the HSG II posts are not relaxed immediately.

As per latest Circle Gradation list of Postal Assistant, nearly 42 Postal Assistants are with in the Zone of consideration for LSG promotion immediately. If these 42 officials are offered LSG promotion, then they will have occupy LSG post in the neighbouring Division as there is no LSG posts available in Chennai GPO which will have cascading effect of further reduction in PA cadre.

To add all these, Chennai GPO will have at least 40 post vacant in PA cadre immediately coupled with 30 HSG II and 12 HSG I posts vacant in this office if the service condition for filling the HSG II / HSGI posts are not relaxed immediately. This will create unrest among the officials and displeasure from Members of Public besides the decline in business performance of the office.

In this connection kindly recall the representation submitted by the undersigned to the GPO administration regarding the identification of LSG Posts after cadre restructuring. It is also pertinent to note that the justification sent by Chennai GPO administration to Regional Office as detailed below, has not been considered in allocation of LSG Posts to Chennai GPO.

Cadre	PA	LSG	HSG II	HSG I	HSG I NFG	Total
Before CRS	189	30	4	8	-	231
Proposed on CRS	149	40	30	12		231

Therefore, the union of Chennai GPO urge the Administration to consider the following for minimal disturbance of staff and keeping the pace of Business performance of Chennai GPO in positive upward trend.

1.      There should be a constant and justified ratio between the ‘Supervisor’ and the ‘Supervised’   to have smooth functioning of the operative nature of work which will uphold the “Work ethics” in all branches. Therefore, it requested to maintain at least 1: 4 ratios may kindly be considered and maintained which yield the LSG strength as 45.

2.      Chennai GPO cannot be equated with any other offices for fixing norms for LSG & HSG II like for Single hand and Double hand office. The ‘Supervisor’ and the ‘Supervised’ ratio alone be the just and equitable at present to consider allotting additional posts for Chennai GPO and not for the Treasury branch.

3.      Postings in LSG may be considered for Divisionalisation, and in such case the officials of Chennai GPO can be accommodated in Chennai GPO itself if more number of LSG posts are identified.

4.      To keep the overall strength of this office in tact the newly identified HSG II posts may be restored as LSG to that extent if required.

5.      In Chennai GPO, new products are often introduced and very recently this office has been identified as all India Nodal office for “Direct Benefit Transfer” (DBT) . This justifies a branch with Few LSG officials under the Supervision of HSG-I. There is clearing House in Chennai GPO, and this has not at all been considered for allotment of LSG posts for this office.

6.      If LSG posts are available, the officials newly to be posted in such LSG posts can be forced to look after the clerical nature of work. But the Supervisory Officials posted in HSG I/II posts cannot be compelled to do clerical nature of work. As such, identification and allotment of more number of posts in LSG cadre is very much essential.

7.      In this regard, it is pertinent to mention here that, nearly 98 LSG posts are not yet identified which have already been allotted to Tamilnadu Circle vide reference 1

above. Further, it is requested to consider minimum of 40 posts as requested by Chennai GPO Administration which is to the same proportion of allotment in other units such as RLO, PSD and CSD.

The issues put forth above may kindly taken up with Circle Administration through R.O to redress the grievance of officials in implementation the Cadre restructuring.

Thanking you,

                                                                                                Yours Sincerely,

(K. Murali)

Copy to:

1. The Post Master General,(CCR), Tamilnadu Circle, Chennai 600002 for information.

2. The Circle Secretary, AIPEU P-3 , T Nagar HPO for information and to take up the issue with Circle Administration and ensure the welfare of Chennai GPO is not affected.