8th Pay Commission: Minimum salary increase - Did 6th and 7th CPCs accept Staff Side's demand?

7th Pay Commission minimum salary

"The JCM-Staff Side, in their memorandum, have proposed that the minimum salary, at the lowest level, should be determined using a need-based approach. They have proposed that the minimum wage for a single worker be based on the norms set by the 15th Indian Labour Conference, with certain additions to the same. The minimum pay as suggested in the memorandum is ₹26,000, which is around 3.7 times the existing minimum salary of ₹7,000," the 7th CPC report said.

"While the broad approach is similar, the specifics do vary and the Commission has, based on need-based minimum wage for a single worker with family as defined in the Aykroyd formula, computed the minimum pay at ₹18,000," it added.

6th Pay Commission minimum salary

In the 6th CPC, the Staff Side demanded a minimum monthly salary of ₹10,000 based on the 15th International Labour Conference norms and taking the family to be comprising three units.

The Staff Side contended that minimum salaries in Public Sector Enterprises were in the vicinity of ₹10,000 per month. Hence, a similar dispensation should be extended to the Central Government employees as well. However, the 6th CPC said this claim was "not based on facts".

The 6th CPC calculated the minimum salary to be ₹5479 per month. However, it recommended a higher minimum salary of ₹6600, which was eventually raised to ₹7000.

"The running pay bands recommended by the Commission prescribe the minimum salary of ₹6660 (₹4860 as basic pay + ₹1800 as grade pay to be counted as pay for all purposes) in the lowest grade of the Pay Band PB 1," the 6th CPC said.

However, the 6th CPC said that at the time of implementation of its Report in 2008, the gross minimum salary in A1 cities will be around ₹10,000 once benefits of HRA, Transport Allowance, Education Allowance, etc. are included. This, incidentally, would correspond to the minimum salary demanded by the Staff Side.