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IJU's DEMANDS |
The Indian Journalists Union presented a 440 page memorandum before the Manisana Singh Wage Board on October 28, 1998.
Here we presents the IJU Demands in a comprehensive fashion..
The IJU demanded a five fold increase in basic pay, full (100%) neutralisation of the rise in the cost of living through Dearness Allowance (DA), House Rent Allowance ranging between 75% and 30% of the basic pay for different classes of newspapers and cities, and a complete and comprehensive ban on the contract system in the newspaper industry in all its forms and manifestations. The IJU described the appointment of Journalists on contract as an attack on the freedom of the Press and said that by depriving the working journalist of job security and statutory benefits, the system created a class of mercenary pen pushers to serve the vested interests of newspaper owners.
On other demands of the IJU, included increase in the retirement age to 65 years and grant of pension ranging between 75 and 50% of the emoluments last drawn. The memorandum also demanded CCA from Rs.600to1500 per month, local Conveyance Allowance Rs.1000 to 5000, leave travel Assistance/ Allowance (LTA) equivalent to three months salary, night Shift Allowance Rs.1500 to 3500, Modernisation Allowance of Rs 2000 per month, medical Allowance of one month salary, Mediclaim insurance cover for working journalists and their families, Maternity Allowance equivalent to one month's salary for women journalists, outfit Allowance Rs2000 to 5000, self -education Allowance of Rs 1500 per month, children's Education Allowance of Rs 1000 per child (Rs 2000 for handicapped children), officiating Allowance equivalent to 25% of salary, Remote and Disturbed Area Allowance equivalent to 30% of the salary, Risk Allowance of 50% of the salary, Desk Allowance - 25% of salary for journalists working on desk, Entertainment Allowance of Rs 1000 per month, Refreshment Allowance of Rs 500 per month and Life Insurance cover for all, fully paid 5 and a half month maternity leave for woman journalists, fully paid one month Paternity Leave for male journalists and House-building advance upto to Rs. 1000000 on easy terms.
The IJU also called for the setting up of a permanent high powered tripartite pay- revision machinery to not only monitor the implementation of the Wage Boards award but also to revise the pay structure on a regular basis and revise it periodically
It also called upon newspaper-owners to help strengthen the two National News Agencies-PTI and UNI-by increasing the fees for their services and ensuring adequate salary-structure for their journalists to attract the best talent.
Seeking the inclusion of journalists working in the Electronic Media among those covered by the Working Journalists Act, the IJU also sought fixation of their salary-structure.
The memorandum also demanded special attention to the problems of woman journalists and Urdu Press and seeks standardization of the fees paid to freelance journalists.
The other demands raised by the IJU include time-bound promotion , four hour working day in a five day week for the journalists who have to work long hours on computers, reclassification of newspapers after every two years and automatic hike of 25% in emoluments if the gross revenue of a newspaper in the highest class rises by Rs 250 crore.
For the Mofussil Correspondents, the IJU demanded benefits of PF and gratuity, three-fourth of the salary and DA of full-time correspondents and annual increments. It also demands that all Mofussil/part-time Correspondents be promoted to the next higher scale of pay after every 10 years.
The IJU team consisting of Suresh Akhouri, Gauri Shankar Acharya, K. Sreenivas Reddy, S. N. Sinha, Madan Singh, Prem Nath Bhargava, Devandra Chintan, Sabina Inderjit appeared before the Wage Board for oral submission. Supreme Court advocate Mr. Rakesh Khanna argued the IJU case.