Majithia wage board proposals are to kill (control) Indian Media which is almost screwed up already.. Can a journalist really write fearlessly against the government when he knows it is the same government that is deciding his salary?

 

Media Houses are totally against these recommendations of wage board and slamming the government with the following questions. Can the government give the answers to these questions?

 

    1) It is asked every time, it must be asked again. And again: why do we have a wage board only for newspapers? The first board was constituted in 1955 when government-owned All India Radio (AIR) was the only mass medium, and Nehruvian India justly feared that private newspaper barons could exploit journalists. But in 21st century post-reforms India?

    If it is right that wages must be protected in the private sector, why should the government only start and stop at newspapers? What about all the other ‘poor souls’ in other media sectors, like TV or the internet?

    Or the IT or automotive industries?

    2) The quantum of hike in wages recommended by the Majithia board conveys the wrong impression that journalists and other newspaper employees are poorly paid at present. This is far from the truth.

    Only one of every 10 journalists I meet complains of low wages and even she is not looking for a 80-100% jump.

    The Times of India, most of whose journalists are currently on contract with a higher CTC than wage board journalists, pays the best wages in the country. Yet the fact that it is at the forefront of the campaign against the Majithia wage board recommendations shows that it is not the fear of losing money that is motivating the Old Lady of Boribunder.

    This is about media freedom.

    3) Every source of income and outgo in the newspaper industry is dictated by market forces. Newsprint costs, cover price, distributor and hawker commission, advertisement rates, etc, are all decided by market forces over which we have little or no control.

    Yet, on the issue of wages and wages alone, the government wants to step in and play minder. Why? It is entirely logical that the government wants to be seen as a friend of journalists. But it is entirely illogical that independent journalists should want to see the government as a friend.

    It is, of course, entirely nonsensical if you consider the fact that many industries cut salaries in bad times like 2008-09, and restore it when the times are better, but newspapers who are exposed to the same financial and commercial pressures, somehow cannot.

    Why?

    4) The wage board is within its rights to recommend a minimum starting salary for journalists, but everything that happens after a journalist joins a newspaper should be the prerogative of the management and editorial leadership.

    On the other hand, the Majithia board, by recommending salary scales with a built-in annual hike and time-bound promotions, seeks to reward complacency, mediocrity and under-performance while giving efficiency, talent and meritocracy the back seat.

    Do journalists want that situation?

    5) The wage board has no business to fiddle with things that is none of its business. For example: scanner operators, who perform a mechanical function no different from peons taking photocopies, were classified as journalists by the previous wage board. Why?

    The Majithia board also exceeds its brief and recommends a retirement age of 65 for journalists, when the government retires its staff at between 58 and 62 years.

    Add to this the fact that the working journalists Act stipulates that journalists are expected to work for just six hours a day. Do professionals in any other industry enjoy this grand privilege while being guaranteed a 80-100% wage hike, annual increments, time-bound promotions and an enhanced retirement age, sans accountability?

    6) Even the Union labour minister will admit that three out of four newspapers in the country have not implemented many earlier wage board recommendations, and it is in such newspapers that the majority of poorly-paid journalists work.

    The chances of such recalcitrant newspapers implementing the draconian recommendations of the Majithia board are remote, if not impossible. So after so many wage boards, what is the government’s trackrecord in reaching fair wages to journalists, the majority of whom slave away in organisations which do not implement wage board recommendations?

    7) Given that historical record, the Majithia board looks set to punish groups that have successfully implemented previous wage board recommendations for decades. This gives an unfair advantage to new entrants and start-ups which blithely refuse to do so.

    By working with the workers’ union, my newspaper has had a “board-plus” wage policy, in which we pay what the board recommends plus something extra that we can afford. This has worked for both sides very well. Does it make sense to impose the new wage board on groups like ours, while turning a blind eye on groups which have consistently refused to implement previous wage boards?

    By keeping their wage bill unnaturally low, such groups find it easy to chip into older players with greater ethical concern for the wellbeing of journalists.

    8) Over the years, the government has disbanded wage boards in all other industries, but it has not and still does not have the courage to disband the wage board for journalists.

    This shows clearly that though the government agrees that wage boards have lost their relevance and usefulness in the modern economy, they are sucking up to journalists by keeping their wage board alive.

    Or are they simply scared of them?

    9) Those arguing for a wage board for journalists contend that that TV journalists are better paid. If that is true, as it perhaps is, then it is also true that this has happened without a wage board.

    Can we then logically conclude that print journalists and others will be better paid without a wage board?

    And one last point: by forcing newspapers into implementing the wage board recommendations, is the government willy-nilly pushing us to use ‘paid news’ as a source of additional revenue to meet the demands of the new wage bill?

    Or, worse, by worming their way into the hearts of journalists with these unrealistic proposals, is the government buying good coverage at the expense of proprietors, promoters and publishers?

 

Report of National Wage Boards for Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees presented to the Government

            The Chairman National Wage Boards for Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees, Justice G. R. Majithia and the members of the Wage Boards presented their final Report to Shri P. C. Chaturvedi Secretary Ministry of Labour & Employment in New Delhi today. Speaking to the media persons after the presentation function Justice Majithia said that a fine, fair and judicious balance has been achieved between the expectations and aspirations of the employees and the capacity and willingness of the employers to pay. He further said that the report has made some suggestions for the consideration of the government on issues like post-retirement benefits, a forward looking promotion policy, measures to improve enforcement of the Award, need for improving data base of the RNI, etc.

The Report has classified newspaper establishments into eight categories, and news agencies into four categories based on gross revenues. Recommended pay scales have been classified into six categories for jobs in each class of establishment. Pay scales have been worked out by adding old basic pay and DA admissible up to June 2010 plus 30 Percent of interim relief. The revised pay would have a component of ‘variable’ pay at the rate of 35 percent for employees working in first top four classes of establishments and 20 percent for other four classes of establishments. The ‘variable’ pay will be added in the revised basic pay for calculation of all allowances. Effective date of implementation would be from 1st of July 2010.

The monthly emoluments for the lowest category of employee in the lowest class of establishment would work out to be Rs. 9000 for the basic pay at floor level minimum wage of Rs. 5000. The revised basic pay would however range from Rs. 9000 to Rs. 17500 for non-journalists and from Rs. 13000 to Rs. 25000 for working journalists in the top establishment having gross revenues of more than Rs. 1000 crores.

As far as social security measures are concerned possibility of granting paternity leave to male employees, retirement age of 65 years, and exploring pension scheme possibilities have been suggested going beyond the mandated wage structure revision.

The wage board has further recommended night shift allowance, hard ship allowance; transport allowance and House rent allowance for different class of establishments. It has recommended that a permanent mechanism in the form of a tribunal be set up to adjudicate on complaints regarding non-implementation or circumvention of the Award. Also Employers are to ensure that while engaging contractual workers they must atleast offer same salary for the same work which is performed by the regular employee.

 

The Ministry of Labour & Employment vide Notifications No. S.O. 809(E) and 810 (E) dated 24th May 2007 as well as Notifications No. S.O. 1066 (E) and 1067(E) dated 3.7.2007 had constituted two separate statutory Wage Boards - one for Working Journalists and another for other Newspaper Employees - in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 9 of the Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955 (45 of 1955) under the Chairmanship of Dr. Justice K. Narayana Kurup, formerly Judge, High Court of Kerala and Acting Chief Justice, High Court of Madras for the purpose of fixing and revising rates of wages in respect of Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees, respectively. Consequent upon resignation of Dr. Justice K. Narayana Kurup, the Government of India then appointed Justice G.R. Majithia as Chairman of Wage boards vide Notification nos. S.O. 580(E) and S.O. 581 (E) dated 28th February 2009. The Wage Boards are tripartite in character in which representative of workers, employers, independent members participate and finalize the recommendation. The Wage Boards for journalists and non - journalist newspaper and news-agency employees are statutory in nature. The prime responsibility for implementing the recommendations of the Wage Board rests with the concerned State Governments / Union Territories under the provision of the act.

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