One of the major demands of the railway workers in the 1974 strike was that they should get bonus as deferred wage. Indira Gandhi’s government suppressed the strike and the railway workers and their families had to undergo untold sufferings just because they demanded a right to live honourably. Times soon changed. The leaders of the strike, George Fernandes and Madhu Dandavate, became ministers in 1977. Though the Janata Party said in its manifesto that 8.33% minimum bonus will be considered as deferred wage, like the earlier Indira Gandhi government they did precious little to fulfil the promise except make boring speeches and bonus for railway workers remai-ned on paper for 28 months till the collapse of heir ministry.
Though the Janata Party government did not give bonus to railway workers, the Union cabinet, of which Fernandes and Dandavate were members, appointed a study committee to recommend a national wage policy. This committee, headed by the retired ICS officer and presently Glaxo’s Chairman, Bhootha-lingam, not only recommended that the railway workers should not be paid bonus but went further and suggested that bonus for all workers should be done away with progressively. When the trade unions opposed the setting up of the Bhootha-lingam Committee and later its report, it was Ferna-ndes who came to the rescue of Bhoothali-ngam and wanted the report to be given a trial. If this was the view of a one-time trade union leader, others in the cabinet representing the capitalists and landlords, had no difficulty in denying bonus to the railway workers.
The railway workers soon realised that they had been betrayed by their leaders and that only through struggle would they get bonus. Once they knew this, they began agitations and morchas in various parts of the country. Dandavate threatened the railway workers that his government would take stern disciplinary measures if the workers resorted to the path of agitation. Charan Singh who was then the Finance Minister, wrote to Prime Minister Morarji Desai, strongly oppo-sing payment of bonus to railway workers.
the Meanwhile the Janata Party government fell. Charan Singh headed the Lok Dal-Congress (U) caretaker government. Elections were ordered. The railway workers’ votes became precious. The need to get these votes as well as to satisfy capitalists made Charan Singh sanction productivity linked bonus to railway workers. In short, the Lok Dal-Congress (U) government of which he was the prime minister introduced a new concept of bonus which in appearance looks like a step forward for the railway workers, but in reality is a big blow to the entire Indian proletariat. At present, bonus is deferred wage and the capitalist, irrespective of his profit or loss, has to pay a minimum one month’s wages to the workers not exceeding Rs. 750. This concept has been upheld by many commissions and tribunals taking into consideration that the majority of the workers in this country do not get a living wage, Charan Singh’s formula, if implemented in the railways, will have dangerous repercu-ssions in other fields of industry throughout India. Thus, the capitalists in other sectors will refuse to pay bonus and the gain made by the working class through their militant struggles in the past will be lost.
Since the workers do not have any control over production and distribution today, linking bonus to productivity is to deny them the right to bonus. This is clear in the case of the railway workers. According to the Financial Express (No-vember 17) ”the railways have carried 92 million tonnes of goods traffic during April September, as against the full year’s target of 204 million tonnes”. The Lok Dal-Congress (U) bonus formula stipulates that if the goods and passenger traffic is less than 90 per cent of the figure stipulated for 1977-78, there will be no bonus given. Thus, “unless the rail goods traffic position undergoes a miraculous increase in the next five months, railwaymen may not get any bonus at all for the current year” (Financial Express, November 17.)
For the central trade unions, the narrow political consideration of having electoral ajdu-stment with the Lok Dal-Congress (U) govern-ment out-weighed the overall interests of the working masses. The AITUC Secretariat thus expre-ssed satisfaction over the accord on bonus to railway workers, but at the same time emphasised that all sections of government employees are entitled to get bonus (Patriot, November 17.)
There is no mention about AITUC’s opposi-tion to bonus linked with productivity.
After coming to power Indira Gandhi too, seems to follow the footsteps of Charan Singh on the ques-tion of bonus. According to a report (Financial Express, February 14) employees in the posts and telegraphs too, may get a productivity-linked bonus.
For fixing the index of performance, the year of highest productivity (emergency year of 1976-77) has been considered as the base (100). If the 1976-77 level of productivity (i. e. 100 per cent) is achieved, then bonus equivalent to 25 days wages will be paid and a day’s extra wages will be given for every 0.5 per cent improvement, says the newspaper.
If the staff productivity index falls below 100 in any year, there will be a reduction of bonus at the rate of one day for every decrease of 0.3 per cent. But if the index falls below 97.5 per cent in any year no bonus will be paid at all.
According to the report, during the five year period 1973-74 to 1977-78 only 1977-78 qualifies as a bonus year when the performance index was 98.55 which is higher than the floor index of 97.5.
Indira Gandhi’s P & T bonus formula, thus, made Charan Singh’s highly objectionable railway bonus scheme quite ‘decent and honourable’. The base year for the railway bonus is 1977-78 and the productivity floor level is 90 per cent below which no bonus will be given. Railway workers will be eligible to get bonus if the productivity falls below the above level for reasons beyond the employees such as floods or cyclones. But in the case of P&T employees such considerations are not going to be taken into account.
In addition to the arbitrary manner of fixing the index of performance and rate of bonus, over 3.5
lakh casual workers and extra-departmental employees working in rural areas are being left out from the coverage of P&T bonus, it is reported. Indira Gandhi has proved that she has not changed a bit as far as her anti-working class policy is concerned.
More than that, the whole question of bonus proves what we said earlier:
“The experience of the railway workers makes it absolutely clear that the working class cannot get freedom and justice except by relying on its own militant organisation and its own class politics. Railway employees’ experience proves that promises, as a great working class leader once said, are “the cheapest things when everything else becomes costly!” (BLAST. November-December 1977.)
–February 16