Drastic times calls for drastic measures.
Who else, except Indian Railways will know this fact.
Reeling under heavy expenditure for employee salary and benefits, Indian Railways has decided to fire 3 lakh employees.
What exactly is happening here?
55+ Year Old Rail Employees Will Be Fired
As per news coming in from sources such as Zee News, it has been revealed that Indian Railways will fire 3 lakh employees.
Railways Ministry has written to every Zonal head under their network to prepare ‘lists’ for executing these terminations.
Every railway employee who is aged 55 years or above can be asked to leave their jobs, even as performance reports and other metrics are being considered.
Besides, employees who are completing 30 years of service in Railways by 2020, can also be considered for this mass layoffs.
What Is The Reason For These Terminations?
High expenses related to salaries and pension funds are being termed as the main reason for firing 3 lakh employees in one single go.
As of now, there are 13 lakh employees in Indian Railways, and the Govt. wants to reduce the total number of employees to 10 lakh, within next 6 to 12 months.
Indian Railways spends 66% of their revenues only on salaries and pension funds, and this is a bothering trend which needs to stop.
Besides, with every Pay Commission suggestion, the contribution towards pension funds increases, and it adds to the woes of the Railways.
By terminating 55+ year old employees via performance review and/or other means, Indian Railways aims to cut back on the slack, and save money.
Indian Railways Justifies This Move
In a statement, Indian Railways has said that such performance reviews do happen from time to time, and there is nothing new in this exercise.
However, as of now, there is no provision to remove those employees, whose performance has not been satisfactory.
Now, this will change, and every such employee who is aged above 55 years right now, can be asked to leave.
This is indeed unprecedented in the history of Indian Railways, and it would be interesting to observe how employee unions react to this development.
