Ahead of the second round of wage negotiations beginning
tomorrow in New Delhi, state-owned general insurers have written to the
government expressing the readiness of a section of their employees to join the new pension scheme which they had rejected twice in the
past.
"We have written to the government on the NPS issue, and
sought its approval," New India Assurance Chairman-cum Managing Director G
Srinivasan, who is also the Chairman of the General Insurance (Public
Sector) Association (GIPSA), which is holding the wage talks, told PTI.
The
four public sector non-life insurers have around 70,000 employees, of which
around 50,000 had already moved on to the New Pension Scheme (NPS).
Around
20,000 employees, working at the four state-owned general insurance firms, will
be benefited in case the third option of pension is offered to them as they did
not opt for it when the second pension scheme was offered to them falling in
line with the banking industry in 2008, he said.
The
Monday's wage negotiations will be the second round on the issue, as the first
round had already taken place earlier during the year.
All the heads of the four state-owned general insurance companies are likely to attend the meeting which
will be held by the GIPSA.
The unions are seeking a hefty 40
per cent hike in net salary and if allowed it will benefit 70,000 employees.
"Majority
employees of PSU general insurance firms had not opted for it when the option
for pension was offered to them for two times in past as the interest rate on
deposit was comparatively high with the banks those days," Bharatiya Veema
Karamachari Sena (BVKS) general secretary Prasad Samant said.
"In fact, when the new pension option was offered to us for
the second time, we were not given enough time to give our consent and hence a
majority of us opted out and hence we want it now," BVKS working president Amrish Sinha said.
Courtesy: Economic Times _ 14092014
