Govt may slash retirement package

Employee unions threaten protest; civil services rules amendments planned


ADNAN LODHI June 07, 2023

LAHORE:

The Punjab government has decided to slash the Leave Preparatory to Retirement (LPR) and gratuity rights of its employees.

According to sources, the decision will affect about two million government servants in the province.

The sources told The Express Tribune that the finance department of the Punjab government was working on amendments to the civil services rules to implement the decision.

The government employees' LPR and gratuity is set to be reduced to half of the existing level.

Around a dozen unions of government employees, including the Punjab Professors and College Lecturers Association (PPLA), Punjab Civil Secretariat Employees Council, Punjab Teachers Union, All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA) and Pakistan Allied Health Professionals Association have announced a joint movement against the move to reduce the employees' financial rights.

Leaders of the unions contended that the caretaker government lacked the authority to amend the employment rules.

The sources said work on the proposal was under way in the Punjab Civil Secretariat.

The sources in the finance department said some other financial benefits of the government employees would also be affected by the decision that was likely to be implemented from this year.

An official of the department said, "Some rules regarding LPR, gratuity and pension in the Punjab Civil Servants Act 1974 will be revised."

The official said all the planned steps were within the domain of the act of 1974 and the heads of all government departments, commissioners and deputy commissioners had been informed about the matter.

On the other hand, the move has triggered concerns among government employees.

A meeting of all major trade unions of various government departments, including education, health, civil secretariat and revenue, was held in the provincial capital, in which their leaders unanimously opposed the plan and vowed to launch joint protest against it.

"The government is making efforts to impose a cut on gratuity and leave encashment and the move has alarmed all government employees in the province," said PPLA president Professor Tariq Kaleem after the meeting.

He said all the unions and associations had decided not to accept the decision and demanded that government withdraw the proposal. He said the move would caused the worst financial problems for the honey government employees who depended on the retirement benefits to sustain themselves in old age.

The teachers' leader also questioned the power of the caretaker government to take a decision having such a widespread effect.

Punjab Teachers Union secretary general Rana Liaqat Ali said the ongoing wave of high inflation had already made hard subsistence of the government servants.

He said the teachers had been demanding a 100 per cent wage hike to overcome their financial hardship but the government had moved to curtail their financial remuneration rather than considering their demand.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7th, 2023.

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