8th pay commission
The demands for the 8th Pay Commission for Central Government employees have intensified. The National Federation of National Postal Organizations (FNPO) has raised the demand to keep the fitment factor from 3.0 to 3.25 and increase the annual salary increment from 3% to 5%. FNPO has written a letter to the National Council (JCM Staff Side) and sent its recommendations for the 8th Pay Commission. The most important demand in this letter is to have different fitment factors for different levels of employees. FNPO says that the fitment factor for Group A, B, C and D employees should be between 3.0 to 3.25.
FNPO General Secretary Shivaji Vasireddy said that he has also given suggestions on issues like pay scale, pay structure, pay matrix, annual increment, allowances and promotion. He also said that after receiving suggestions from all the employee organizations, a meeting of NCJCM will be held on 25 February 2026. After this, a final draft will be prepared and sent to 8th Pay Commission Chairperson Ranjana Prakash Desai.
FNPO says that even in the earlier pay commissions, the same fitment factor was not kept for all levels, hence this time also there should be different factors for different levels. The organization has made its calculations based on the Ackroyd formula, which takes into account the needs of a four-member family. Food, clothing, housing and minimum living costs are added to this formula.
According to the FNPO proposal, the fitment factor for levels 1 to 5 should be 3.0, for middle level it should be 3.05 to 3.10, for senior level it should be around 3.15 and at the top level it should be 3.25. For example, the current basic salary of a Level-1 employee is Rs 18,000, which has been suggested to be increased to Rs 54,000 in the 8th Pay Commission.
Apart from this, FNPO has demanded to increase the annual increment from 3% to 5%. The organization says that this will see a real increase in the salaries of the employees, dissatisfaction will reduce and the government salary structure will come closer to the private sector. This will be more beneficial especially for Group C and D employees, because their chances of promotion are less. FNPO has also demanded that the pay matrix system of the 7th Pay Commission be continued, as it has brought transparency in determining pay and reduced disputes.
