JOINT FORUM OF UNIONS AND ASSOCIATION

OF EMPLOYEES & OFFICERS IN

PUBLIC SECTOR GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANIES
(JFTU _ PSGICs)
rd
23 June 2022

To

Ms. Suchita Gupta

Chairperson GIPSA, New Delhi
&
CMD, The National Insurance Co Ltd
Kolkata

Madam,

Re: Meeting of CMDs / CE GIPSA with Check of Qualified Trade

nd
Unions / Associations on 22 June 2022 in the matter of
Long pending Wage Revision in PSGI Companies & GIC Re

We refer to the Webinar Meeting called by GIPSA on 22nd June 2022 inviting
Check off Qualified Trade Unions / Associations for discussion on Wage
Revision. The meeting was addressed / attended by you, CMDs of GIPSA
Member Companies, CE GIPSA and representatives of Check off Qualified
Trade Unions and Associations in PSGICs.

As pointed out during the meeting itself by our Constituents attending the said
meeting, we once again place on record that the offer of Wage Revision
made by our Management(s) is absolutely not acceptable and hence rejected
in totality in one voice by the entire workforce and their representatives / JFTU
Constituents in PSGI Companies. It lacks any justification and is not at par
with our counterparts in the Insurance Sector – LICI & ECGC. It seems as if
management(s) intended to humiliate and demotivate the entire workforce
without any sense of shamefulness.

We also wish to place on record that the manner of conducting such

important meeting through Webinar in the late evening is not appreciable. As
per feedback received from the participating Unions / Associations,
deliberations were not audible to everyone and some of the participants had
technical snags of connectivity also. It seems that our Management(s) is
shying away to meet and hear the voice of the workforce. We request you
and demand that such meetings with Unions / Associations should always be
held in person and should start in the morning ensuring sufficient time and
disturbance free ambience for two way inter-actions and meaningful
deliberations.

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 th
We would request you to refer to the records of previous meeting dated 4
April 2019 called by GIPSA at Mumbai where Mr. Girija Kumar, the then
Chairman GIPSA and all other CMDs categorically assured us that Wage
Revision effective from 01st August 2017 will be even better than our
counterparts, mainly LICI. It is also a matter of record that historically the
Compensation Package, service conditions as also job profiles and duties in
the LICI and PSGI Companies are similar.

It is also a matter of record that ever-since the aforesaid meeting, JFTU and
its Constituents have been continuously approaching the DFS and GIPSA
Management(s) for early settlement of Wage Revision due from 1 st August
2017. We have been compelled to resort to demonstrations and IR action
during the last more than two years. Our top management has always
assured us of early wage revision at par with that of LICI. Our last call for
indefinite strike w.e.f. 20th June 2022 was deferred by us on your categorical
assurance that the matter shall be resolved without any further delay.

Madam, you will please appreciate that the leaderships of JFTU Constituents
as also our members, officers and employees in PSGI Companies, have
always kept the interest of our Companies above anything in their life. We
have always cooperated and carried out our duties as assigned by the
Management with full dedication and honesty. Even during the difficult time
of prevailing Covid-19 epidemic, our workforce has served the economy and
the society as Corona Warriors over the last more than two years. During this
period we have suffered loss of life of around 500 of our colleagues and
family members due to this pandemic.

In return, our managements have shown their utmost insensitivity to the most
genuine demand of settling Wage Revision pending for almost five years
now, increase in NPS contribution to 14%, improvement in family pension and
other such issues. The offer now made towards much delayed Wage is just
like adding salt to our injury.

We may remind you that the Wage Revision demanded is w.e.f. 1 st August
2017 which is conventionally and technically worked out based on the
performance of the Companies during the previous Wage period of 2012-
2017. It is a matter of record that our Companies performed very well during
this period and beyond. PSGI Companies paid dividends during these
periods.

We may also place on record that performance of our Companies is affected

due to various reasons. We quote few of such neglects and laxities affecting
working of our Companies:

1. Ever since superannuation of CMD of New India in February 2022,

there is no regular CMD till date. Earlier also regular CMDs were not
posted for all the four Companies in time and the trend is continuing
resulting in delay in decision making process and loss of business.
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 The lack of seriousness on the part of DFS/Ministry/Government in the
sensitive issue is costing dearly the PSGICs..

2. Presently, there is no full time Director in any PSGI Companies for a

very long time now. There is no visible action plan to make such
appointments within any timelines. Lot of policy matters remain
pending affecting proactive actions.

3. Decision as per the proposal in 2018 Budget speech by the Finance

Minister to merge the three Companies National Insurance, Oriental
Insurance and United India Insurance have not been carried out.
Status or withdrawal of the said proposal has never been notified in
social domain. This has caused continuous doubts in the minds of
clientele and intermediaries of these Companies resulting into
continuous loss of business.

4. Announcement in the Budget proposal 2021, Owners intentions /

proposal to privatise one PSGI Company reflects the short sightedness
of our owners and management which has been cause of creating
uncertainty and has been greatly detrimental to the business avenues
of every PSGI Companies.

5. As a consequence of 3 & 4 above, hundreds of crores of rupees have

been spent towards consultants and their travel & meetings by Senior
Executives including CMDs and General Managers. This entire money
spend is wasteful and unproductive expenditure which added to
Management Expenses of the Companies. Also valuable man-hours of
key persons have been wasted.

6. Our Companies have always been the flag bearers of social security
schemes such Aayushman Bharat, PMRSBY, Prime Minister Fasal
Bima Yojana(PMFBY), Corona Kavach Policy, CSR and many more
such policies. In PM RSBY, the premium of Rs.12/- for death cover of
Rs.2 lacs is not sufficient even to cover the expenses in underwriting
and administering the scheme. For PMFBY, scheme is implemented
at very low unviable premium with extremely high outgo. Most of these
schemes have high ICR; in some schemes it is as high as 300%. We
request you to seek matching premium from the Concerned
Government Departments otherwise all these policies must be
cancelled forthwith to stop drainage of our valuable resources. We
demand the losses occurred due to operation of such schemes may be
compensated by the Government by issuance of bonds similar to
bonds issued to Oil Companies. This will compensate the Companies
for the outgo incurred on social schemes.

7. Our Constituents have been writing to respective Companies from time

to time about pilferage of moneys through some GMCs and Tie up
arrangements resulting into high ICR, in some cases even more than
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 150%. The prudence in continuing such policies year after year should
be examined. Connivance of certain vested interests / unethical
brokers, TPAs and external agencies cannot be ruled out. We shall be
submitting our request / formats separately on some of such portfolios /
client accounts and shall request our managements to transparently
share the details of premium / ICR and other outgoes of such accounts
for further discussions and desired action.

8. Our Managements have failed to ensure / insist for level playing field
for PSGI Companies Vs. Private Sector Companies. The unethical
practices of the Private Sector and failure of the Regulator in
controlling them has been detrimental to our business interest and
performance.

9. Our Managements are working in isolation and practicing typical one

way communication expecting the entire workforce to carry out the
orders without any questioning about prudence of such action plans.
Structured Meeting as mandated in the Check off Concept has not
taken place for more than two years now. Action taken report on the
past meetings and joint understandings have not been shared with the
check off qualified Unions / Associations.

10. It is fact and matter of record that our PSGI Companies are competing
against each other mostly for the loss making policies and many of
such policies are underwritten at less than outgo causing losses year
after year, for the reasons best known to our management(s).

These are some of the issues for urgent consideration. If desired, we can
submit many more such important points with more details. We request you
to meanwhile address these issues on priority. We also request you to
urgently arrange Structured Meetings as per code of Check Off exercise.

Madam, as students and practitioners of General Insurance, we all

understand that insurance means sharing of losses across wider spectrum of
exposures. It is absolutely unbelievable that any insurance Company should
suffer continuous losses. There can be a phase of two or three years of bad
loss experience and such trends are bound to reverse. Only thing needed is
prudence and integrity at all levels and motivated workforce. We are sure
that PSGI Companies have sufficient skilled and dedicated workforce to meet
the challenge under proactive leadership. We assure you to our utmost
cooperation for the betterment in productivity.

We wish to reiterate that honoring the appeal of our Managements all the
representative of officers and employees agreed to defer the strike call given
under the banner of JFTU_PSGICs scheduled w.e.f. 20th June 2022.
Categorical assurances were made by the Management / CMDs / CE GIPSA
st
that the issue of Wage Revisions in our Companies (pending since 01
August 2017) shall be resolved without further delay. JFTU Constituents
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agreed to defer the said strike call in PSGICs by Two weeks. It is a matter of
regret that our Managements have failed to honor their commitment and to
meet the genuine and justified expectations of the workforce.

PSGI Companies have been contributing for more than four decades to the
Government exchequer and carrying out all obligations of social security
schemes at highly subsidized rates. Even during all those years, our Wage
Revision was kept at par with others in the financial sector though we were
entitled to higher compensation on account of huge profits by these
Companies. We request you to maintain parity in our Wage Revision with our
counterparts in LICI and ECGC.

Madam, you will appreciate that the entire workforce of our Companies is
anguished by the offer made by GIPSA on 21st June 2022. This is evident
from large scale demonstration held today across the country in these
Companies. This unrest is bound to aggravate in the coming days.

We, therefore, once again request you to understand the gravity of the
situation, reconsider the matter urgently and come forward with revised offer
at par with that of LICI within seven days of this letter. In case, we do not
hear in the matter by 30th of June 2022 we shall be compelled to resort to
rigorous IR action including but not limiting to indefinite strike as warranted
without any further notice. Our Managements only shall have the sole
responsibility for such an undesired situation.

We look forward to early and visible action in the matter

With sincere regards

Girish Khurana
National Convener
JFTU_PSGICs
Email: khuranagk.ins@gmail.com

Copy to:

Mr Anjan Dey, CMD, The Oriental Insurance Co Ltd, New Delhi

Mr S Tripathy, CMD, The United India Insurance Co Ltd, Chennai
Mrs Madhulika Bhaskar, Officiating CMD, The New India Assurance Co Ltd, Mumbai
Mr Devesh Srivasatava, CMD, GIC Re, Mumbai
Shri R R Singh, CE GIPSA New Delhi