8th Pay Commission: Unions demand ₹68,000 minimum wage and OPS return

During regional consultations in Chennai, various employee and pensioner associations presented several key demands to the 8th Pay Commission. A primary focus of these discussions is the request to increase the minimum basic salary to between ₹68,000 and ₹69,000, a significant rise from the ₹18,000 minimum established by the 7th Pay Commission. Organizations have also proposed a fitment factor of 3.83 to account for rising inflation and the increased cost of living.

Pensioners, including the Chennai GPO Pensioners’ Forum, are strongly advocating for the reinstatement of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Other demands include upward revisions to basic and family pensions, clearer guidelines for pension commutation recovery, and updates to the Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) scheme to address promotion bottlenecks.

While unions are pushing for enhanced social security, allowances, and specialized career progression policies, legal experts have cautioned that such changes could face administrative and legal hurdles, particularly regarding how new rules would apply to past versus future employees.