Indian Railways study material

1. PERMANENT
NEGOTIATION MACHINEY
BY
MOHANDAS P
ASST. PROFESSOR(PERSONNEL MGT.)
National Academy of Indian Railways

2. STAFF COUNCILS AND
NEGOTIATING MACHINERY HAVE
BEEN DEFINED IN CHAPTER XXVI
OF THE INDIAN RAILWAY
ESTABLISHMENT MANUAL VOL.II
(SECTION 2601-2616)

3. 2601. Object.- The object of creating these Councils is to maintain
good relations and a spirit of co-operation between the
Administration and all classes of non-gazetted staff
by providing a means whereby :-
(a) Staff can bring questions in connection with their conditions of
service to the notice of the administration;
(b) Matters of common interest connected with working of the
undertaking may be discussed with a view to improving
efficiency; and
(c) The councils may function as welfare committees and advise
on all welfare activities.
The councils are not to be mere forums for ventilating
grievances of the staff. Discussions should be encouraged on
various phases of the railway operations and methods of work
with which the staff are intimately concerned and on
suggestions to improve efficiency all round.

4. 2602. Powers
(a) Cases of disciplinary action, transfers and other such
matters pertaining to individual railway servants,
which do not involve any general principle, shall not
be discussed at the meetings.
(b) Staff councils will discuss only matters pertaining to
the staff served by them. Where the matters raised
at a certain level are matters of policy beyond the
scope of the officers on the staff Council they should
be referred for discussion at the Board’s level.

5. 2603. Composition- Staff Councils shall consist of (a) Elected
members, (b) Nominated members, (c) Presidents nominated
by General Managers or Chief Administrative officers and (d)
Members co-opted ad-hoc.
(a) Elected members will be drawn from as wide a range of
different categories of non-gazetted staff as possible
according to schedule drawn up by the General Manager or
Chief Administrative Officer. Class IV and workshop staff
(Where special workshop Councils do not exist) should be well
provided for.
(b) Nominated members will be gazetted or non-gazetted staff.
They will be nominated by the General Manager or Chief
Administrative officer or such other officer as he may detail in
this behalf.

6. (c) Presidents, who will be gazetted railway servants, will be
nominated by the General Manager or Chief Administrative
officer.,
(d) Co-opted members will be gazetted or non- gazetted railway
servants nominated as the General Manager or Chief
Administrative officer or other officer detailed by him in this
behalf may direct, and as may be required from time to
time, when specific matters on which their advice will be of
value, are under discussion.

7. 2604. Eligibility for election.All non-gazetted staff excluding
apprentices with more than three years continuous
service will be eligible for election to staff Councils.
2605. Election.-Elections to the Staff Council will be held
once in two or three years and by ballot. The
franchise should include all non-gazetted railway
servants excluding apprentices. Each railway servant
will vote for a member of his category.

8. 2606. Meetings.- Meeting of staff Councils shall not be held
more often than once every two months or less often
than once every four months.
2607. Agenda.-Draft resolutions for inclusion in the agenda
shall be sent by the members of the Council to
the Secretary so as to reach him at least ten days
before the date of the meeting. The agenda for the
meeting shall be circulated by the Secretary of the
Council at least seven days before the date of the
meeting. The Secretary of the Council shall intimate to
the members of the Council the date fixed for the
meeting, at least fifteen days in advance.

9. 2608. The quorum for all Council meetings will be one-third of the
total number of members.
2609. Absence from meetings.- A member not attending a
Council meeting on three successive occasions. Without
good and sufficient reasons, may be expelled from the
council, by the members passing a resolution to the effect.
The Council shall be the sole judge as to whether the
reasons advanced by the members, if any, are good and
sufficient. The absence on account of leave, sickness or not
being spared due to pressure of work, will be regarded as
good and sufficient reasons.
2610. Filling of Vacancies.- Vacancies caused during the period
of tenure of a Council, shall be filled by bye- election or fresh
nominations as will be necessary.
2611. Minutes- Resolutions passed by the Council will be drawn
in the form of minutes and entered in the Minutes Book.
Copies thereof shall be circulated by the Secretary of the

10. 2612. When action is required to be taken by any staff Council
on the resolutions passed, the President of the Council
shall indicate what action on the items is required to be
taken thereon.
2613. At each meeting, the Secretary shall place before the
Council the decisions given by the various departmental
officers received after the date of the last meeting on the
items of the preceding meetings. Numbers of the
resolutions in all these meetings not finally disposed of
shall be mentioned as outstanding items. The Council
shall consider whether any of the outstanding items
should be dropped or whether action should be pursued
and in what way in respect of other items.

11. 2613A
Subsidiary Rules: The General Manager will, if required,
draw-up subsidiary rules in regard to matters laid down in
these rules and also in regard to details of procedure so long
as these are not inconsistent with any of the rule made by the
President or the Ministry of Railways.

12. Negotiating machinery for dealing with disputes between
Railway Labour and Railway Administrations:-
The permanent negotiating machinery will maintain contact
with labour and resolve disputes and differences which may
arise between them and the Administration.
The machinery is to work, in three tiers, viz.
The Railway level.- In this the recognised union will have
access to District or Divisional Officers and subsequently to
officers at the Headquarters including the General Manager.
The Railway Board level. In cases where matters are not
settled at Railway level, they will be taken up by the
Federations with the Railway Board.

13. The Tribunal level -In cases in which agreement
is not reached between the Federation and the
Railway Board and the matters are of sufficient
importance, reference will be made to an ad hoc
Railway Tribunal composed of representatives
of the Railway Administration and labour
presided over by a neutral chairman.

14. 2616. The following detailed procedure is laid down for the working of the
machinery referred to above:--
(i) At the district or divisional level the district or Divisional Officers
should meet the branches of the recognised Unions which may be
established in the districts or divisions at least once in two months
and oftener if necessary. Each workshop will be considered as a
district. The particular branches which should meet the District or
Divisional Officers as prescribed above should be agreed upon
between the General Manager and the Union. In the Divisional
pattern of working, the Divisional representatives of a union, who
shall represent all the branches of the union in the Division should
be enabled to meet the Divisional Superintendent, who may or may
not be assisted by the branch officers. The
detailed procedure of arranging these meetings would be agreed
upon with the Union, but this should include a provision that
the branch should supply in sufficient time before the meeting
the subjects which it proposes to raise at the meeting with
complete memoranda setting out its points of view.

15. (ii) At the Railway Headquarters, the General Manager or
the Assistant/Deputy General Manager in charge of
staff will meet the Unions at least once a quarter and oftener
if necessary.
(iii) All disciplinary matters and subjects like promotion, transfer
etc. of individual members of the staff which do not involve
any general principle will be excluded from the scope of the
discussions at all these level except at the discretion of the
officer concerned. Where however unions have been given
certain privilege in these matters these will not ordinarily be
curtailed.
(iv) At the district or divisional and railway levels, subject will
comprise of those which are within the powers of the officers
concerned.
(v) Question concerning pay scales, allowances, etc., will only be
discussed between the Federation and the Railway Board and
not at lower level.

16. (vi) At the centre, negotiations will be between the Railway
Board and the Federation and for this purpose, there will be
quarterly meetings between the Railway Board and the
Federation.
(vii) When a matter which is raised for discussion at the district
or divisional level is not settled by agreement, it may be
raised at the railway level for further negotiation. Similarly, a
matter not settled at the Railway level may be brought by
the Federation to the Railway Board for discussion.
(viii) All subjects brought up for discussion at the various levels
should be disposed of as expeditiously as possible. Brief
minutes of discussion indicating the decision arrived at
should be sent to unions concerned for their information.

17. (ix)
If, after discussion between the Railway Board and
the Federation, agreement is not reached on any matters
of importance, such matters may be referred to an ad-hoc
Railway Tribunal which will be set up for dealing with them
at the centre. This tribunal will consist of an equal number
of representative of Railway labour and the Railway
Administration with a neutral Chairman. The Tribunal will be
enabled to make such investigation, as they deem
necessary before they give their decision.
(x) It would be open to Government of accept, reject or
modify the decision of the Tribunal and where the matters
in dispute affect the workers under Ministries other than
the Railway Ministry, those Ministries will be consulted as
to-

18. (i) whether they have any objection to the disputes being
referred to the Railway Tribunal, or
(ii) Whether they would like the dispute to be referred to an ad-
hoc commission on which they will also be represented.
On matters which have Been settled by agreement or in which
Government or in which Government ultimately accept the
decision of the Tribunal, it will not be open to the Federation to
raise the same issue again for a. period of two years. In those
cases in which Government have rejected or modified the
decision of the Tribunal, the issue may be raised at the end of
one year.

19. P N M (Permanent Negotiation Machinery
It was founded by shri. V.V.Giri in the year 1951 when Shri.
LalBahadurShastri was the Railway minister of India.
Object :
With a view to maintain the contact with organised labour and
to settle differences and disputes arising between organised
labour and Railway administration a machinery has been setup
and is called as permanent negotiation machinery.
PNM was on three-tier basis
1. The Railway level
2. The Railway Board level
3. The Ad-hoc tribunal level
1. The Railway Level:
At Railway level there are further two levels
i) The divisional level/ store depot level/ workshop level
ii) The Zonal Railway level

20. i) The divisional level/ store depot level/ workshop level :
a) DRM/ Dy. COS/ CWM works as it’s chairman and the Sr. DPO/ DPO/ SPO/
APO works as its sectary.
b) Subject agenda must be circulated one month in advance. Out of agenda
items may also be discussed with permission of chairman and chairman can
discussed any item out of agenda.
c) Meeting : once in two month separately with representatives of NRMU &
CRMS .
d) Matters discussed which comes within the powers of DRM/ Dy. COS/ CWN.
ii) Zonal Railway Levels :
a) Chairman- GM Secretary - CPO.
b) Subject agenda must be circulated one month in advance. Out of agenda
items may also be discussed with permission of chairman and chairman can
discussed any item out of agenda.
c) Meeting : once in three months separately with representatives of NRMU &
CRMS
d) Matters discussed which comes within the powers of GM or which could not
be settled at the divisional level.

21. 2. The Railway Board Level :
a) Chairman- Member staff
Secretary - Dy. Director Establishment
b) Subject agenda must be circulated one month in advance. Out
of agenda items may also be discussed with permission of
chairman and chairman can discussed any item out of agenda
c) Meeting : once in three months separately with
representatives of NFIR & AIRF.
d) Matters discussed which comes within the powers of Railway
Board or which could not be settled at the Zonal Railway level.

22. 3. Ad-hoc Tribunal Level :
a) The matter of important nature on which no agreement is
reached upto the Railway Board level.
b) Chairman would be retired judge of High court or Supreme
court having his own staff, and equal representatives of labour
and administration.
c) The award given by the tribunal is not binding. The
government may accept, reject or modify the award of the
tribunal.
d) The matter settled by the tribunal or decision of tribunal once
accepted by the government shall not be opened by unions for a
period of two years.
e) Where the government reject or modify the decision of the

23. JOINT CONSULTATIVE MACHINERY (JCM)
The Joint Consultative Machinery (JCM) came into being during
October, 1968. The Machinery provided for the setting up of a
National Council at the Centre and the Departmental Council in
every department for the settlement of disputes, between the
Central Government and its employees. In case of disagreement
on (1) Pay & Allowances (2) Hours of work, and (3) Leave, the
dispute was to go for compulsory arbitration 'to the Tripartite
Board of Arbitration which would be presided over by a Supreme
Court Judge or one who was eligible to be appointed as such. The
NFIR had a special reason to be satisfied at this development, for
its persistent efforts to bring about machinery through the
negotiations with the Central Government authorities, had at last
succeeded. The NFIR insisted that the employees should have
the right to disagree with the employer and upon disagreement
the matter should compulsorily be referred to arbitration, whose
decision must be taken as binding. To the NFIR, machinery meant

24. Believing in the efficiency of collective bargaining, the NFIR
has extended full co-operation in the working of the
Permanent Negotiating Machinery and the Joint Consultative
Machinery for Railwaymens' benefit. Till date 92 meetings
under the PNM Rules and 54 meetings under the
Departmental Council (JCM Rules) have been held in which
more than 4502 subjects were discussed at the Railway Board
level. Besides, many special meetings were held on several
occasions to discuss special problems of different categories
of staff.

25. BOARD OF ARBITRATION
In the early 70s, important awards were secured from the Board of
Arbitration (JCM) at the instance of the NFIR on the issues viz.,
Grant of Semi-Skilled Grade to all Gangmen, Grant of Transfer
Allowance to all Class III and Class IV employees, Grant of
Special pay of Rs.150/- per month to Loco Foreman Grade
Rs.450-575 (AS), Revision of the scale of pay of Stock Verifiers,
Grant of Scale Rs.260-350 to Fireman Grade ' B', Grant of Scale
to Shunters ' B' identical to that of Shunters ' A', Revision of Pay
Scales of the Message Checkers, merging of the Junior & Senior
Accountants in a single scale, Grant of 12 days Casual Leave to
Workshop Staff; Revision of the Scales of Pay of Daftries,
Assistant Commercial Inspectors and Progress Chasers. In
respect of the Running Supervisors, the Tribunal awarded removal
of imbalances in the case of Inspectors arising from revision of the
running allowance rate of the drivers, from time to time.

26. PARTICIPATION OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEES IN MANAGEMENT (PREM)
As a first step towards labour participation in the Management, the
Railway Ministry had constituted Corporate Enterprise Group (CEG) of
Management in the year 1972, which consisted leaders of NFIR and
AIRF. Through this CEG, the labour organizations were given the
opportunity to highlight their view points on the working and also
suggest measures needed to be taken for improving the efficiency of
the Railways.
The Corporate Enterprise Groups (CEG) at Railway Board, Zonal and
Divisional levels was restructured during the year 1994 as
Participation of Railway Employees in Management (PREM) to facili-
tate meaningful and effective participation of workers in the
management process. Further, to make the working of PREM more
purposeful, a separate cell headed by a Joint Secretary has been set
up under the direct control of Secretary, Railway Board. The Joint
Secretary shall assist the Secretary in convening the meetings of the
Group periodically and monitor the implementation of various deci-
sions taken. He will also monitor the working of PREM at the Zonal
and Divisional levels.

27. Shri C. K. JafferSharief, then Minister for Railways had
also addressed a letter on 24th June, 1995 to the then
Prime Minister of India, Shri P.V. NarisimhaRao
highlighting the decision taken by him for participation of
Railway employees in PREM. This, he felt was a
Government's commitment to usher in an era of
participative management to involve workers in the
decision making and the implementation process for a
meaningful and collective endeavour. The salient points
from his letter are given below:-
1. Following the assurance of P.M. to the August House,
the Ministry of Railways have taken the initiative to
involve workers in important deliberations at various
levels so as to make them feel involved in the task of
providing an efficient rail transport service.

28. 2. For the first time in the history of Indian
Railways the top leaders of the two workers'
Federations of Railways also participated in the
meeting along with Minister for Railways, the
Railway Board and the General Managers on 1st
May, 1995 i.e., the MAY DAY in New Delhi. Hitherto,
there was no opportunity for the workers to
contribute meaningfully to improve the running of
the railways system and delivery of better services,
except on matters like staff relating to duty hours,
housing, redressal of grievances, service conditions
etc., as the agenda for such meetings was very
limited in scope besides being one sided. Thus an
important beginning was made in the direction of
involving employees in the management of
Railways.

29. The restructuring of Corporate Enterprise Groups as PREM
groups expanding the scope of agenda to enable the
workers express their views on issues pertaining to the
day-to-day running of the system and enable them sug-
gest means of improving the system, as spelt out in the
Budget Speech of. 1994-95, has been well received by
the workers.
4. As per the announcement made in Rail Budget 1995-
96, the workers' participation in management at apex
level is a step further, for greater transparency in
important matters of railway working. These enabled
labour unions feel more of a partner in the march towards
achieving Indian Railways' corporate objective of higher
productivity with cost reduction.

30. The NFIR is with the Administration with regard to safety
measures. The Federation stressed the need for
educating the grass root level workers about the rules. It
also has emphasized the necessity of publishing the rules
in simplified form not only in English and Hindi, but also
in regional languages.
Thus, the rank and file of the lowest level can be kept
well informed about the simplified rules and procedures
of the system.
The NFIR also desires that the status of the members of
PREM is well defined and clearly explained, not that they
are enamored of status. Since, the Federation is
functioning like a responsible co-partner in running the
system, it also should be given due importance and
dignified status.

31. At the apex level the meetings of PREM were held, by and large,
regularly by the Railway Board. In the General Managers'
Conferences and CPOs' Conferences, the General Secretary, NFIR has
been participating and availing these for a in projecting important
points. The highlights of discussions from these conferences are
appraised to the affiliated unions and also published in the monthly
journal "Indian Rail Worker".
However, the meetings are not being held regularly on some Zonal
Railways at GMs' and DRMs' level. The Federation has time and again
brought this situation to the notice of Railway Board. Although
necessary instructions for the purpose have been issued from time to
time by the Railway Board to the Zonal Railways to hold these
meetings regularly with the participation of General Secretary and
Divisional Secretary, there has been no much improvement in the
position.