They Showed The Way, Any Takers?

In my earlier blog post on Tata Steel (Social Security For Tata Steel Contract Workers ) I presented the social security scheme which the company had introduced for their contract workers, numbering one lakh plus.

In this blogpost I will give a glimpse of the social security schemes for Tata Steel workers, obviously those directly employed by the company. The focus of the social security schemes is to provide the same standard of living to an employee (in case of disablement) or to his family (in case of his death) till he reaches the age of superannuation. In the case death of an employee his family is paid an amount till his notional superannuation.

This is hopefully a trendsetter, although in this age of primacy of shareholder value considerations, it seems to be only a dream. There should be no doubt that Tata Steel has led the way.

Before we discuss details, here is something we must know. The ITUC Global Rights Index is out for 2024.

The ITUC Global Rights Index depicts the world’s worst countries for workers by rating countries on a scale from 1 to 5+ on the degree of respect for workers’ rights. Violations are recorded each year from April to March. India has been consistently rated at 5 (meaning: No guarantee of rights.)

Countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. While the legislation may spell out certain rights, workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labour practices.

This is the backdrop against which we have to appreciate the social security schemes of Tata Steel.

Now let us discuss the details of the Tata Steel Social Security Schemes. When I heard these details, I was shell shocked. Nobody, including union leaders, can ask for anything better that what they have offered to their employees.

Here are the details:

There are three schemes which cover many eventualities in the life of a working person.

If an employee meets with a fatal accident while on duty, Tata Steel strives to protect the standard of living of the employee’s family! How? Through their Family Support Scheme of Tata Steel which is extended in such a case.

This means: The family of the deceased employee may make a choice from three available options: A. Pension (last drawn Basic + DA) for nominee/spouse in lieu of employment till their 60 years of age with an escalation of 15% every year or B. Employment for nominee/spouse, or C. Combination of Pension for spouse and employment for the ward (if the ward is studying and less than 25 years age) at a later date. Over and above this, the company also sponsors the entire cost of education of the children till their graduation, provides medical facility and facility to retain company’s accommodation for 5 years and pay HRA thereafter.

What if an employee dies on his way to work or returning from it? The family of the deceased employee may make a choice from three available options A. Pension (last drawn Basic + DA) for nominee / spouse in lieu of employment till their 60 years of age or B. Employment for nominee/ Spouse or C. Combination of Pension for spouse and employment for the ward (if the ward is studying and less than 18 years age) at a later date. In addition, Medical facility and coverage under life coverage scheme (20 months Basic + DA or Rs 7,00,000 whichever is more) is provided along with the facility that the family can retain existing company’s accommodation for 3 years.

What if an employee expires while in service but not while on duty? His nominee receives the same benefit; his last drawn salary (Basic + DA) till the deceased employee’s 60th birthday. In addition, medical facility is made available to family members, and they are covered under Life cover scheme of Rs 7,00,000/-. In addition, the family can retain existing accommodation given by Tata Steel for 2 yrs. in case of disablement to 3 yrs. in case of death of employee.

In case an employee suffers permanent total disablement as a result of an accident on duty, he will get last drawn salary till his retirement age OR he will get 70 months’ salary and in addition he will receive gratuity as if he worked till his retirement.

If an employee dies while in service – this has three possibilities – death while on duty, death while commuting to and from work and death while in employment of the company, extraordinarily rich social security is offered by the company.

If in the above two case, death occurred while on duty and death while commuting to and from work, the nominee gets a monthly pension equal to last drawn salary (Basic + DA) till notional age of superannuation of the NOMINEE. Yes, get it right, till the nominee reaches the age of sixty.

In the third case, which is to say, death while in employment of the company (but not while on duty) the nominee will receive a monthly pension equal to last drawn salary (Basic+DA) till notional age of superannuation of the employee.

Frankly I do not know what to say about these schemes. I am speechless! Guaranteeing standard of living to a disabled employee or to his family if the employee dies – even if he is not on duty but in service – is the best anybody can hope for.

This surely means a huge contingent liability. I leave it to your imagination to guess how many thousands of crores it will be. Obviously, Tata Steel thinks that well-being of its employees must be taken care of, and financial results will follow.

Fundamentally, Tata Steel has removed the biggest concern of an employee – the insecurity, the worry about providing a good life to his family. This assurance is not available even to the managers of the well-known organizations, forget about providing it to the lowest level of employee.

This is where Tata Steel differs from all other organizations. (All other organizations in the Tata Group have not offered these schemes so far to their employees. Why? We do not know. Hopefully, they will do.)

Tata Steel website says, “Our work drives towards a future that is more humane, and a lot more liveable. Sure, we make steel.” Till recently Tata Steel said, ‘We also make steel’. Now Tata Steel has a new tag line on their website: ‘WE ALSO MAKE TOMORROW.’ Surely, you do!

What say you, readers?

PS: Feature Pic Courtesy Harle Martin on Unsplash

(Disclaimer: I would like to clarify that this is not a paid blogpost, and Tata Steel authorities have not asked me – nor even suggested – that I should blog about it. I have been covering good work of employers and workmen or unions alike, and this is one of them.)

Vivek S Patwardhan

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others/ All work copyrighted.