Provident Fund (PF) department employees on strike demanding filling of 3000 vacancies
Sumit Singh
Pune, August 28, 2019 : The staffs at the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) office in Camp, joined the nationawide one day strike to demand immediate filling of 3000 vacancies. There was complete shut-down in office and no work could done today.
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, is an organization tasked to assist the Central Board of Trustees, a statutory body formed by the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 and is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.
The All India Employees Provident Fund Staff Federation (AIEPFSF), an umbrella organisation of the employees, has also threatened to go on an indefinite strike if its demands are not met. Today 18,000 employees of group B, C and D cadre with the EPFO across the country have gone on strike.
According to employees, the EPFO department has become top-heavy (only Group A vacancies are being filled) which has delayed the process of timely distribution of provident fund (PF), pension and other related benefits to about 10 crore workers, who have enrolled in the EPFO.
EPFO is one of the World’s largest Social Security Organisations in terms of clientele and the volume of financial transactions undertaken. At present it maintains 17.14 crore accounts (Annual Report 2015-16) pertaining to its members.
The Employees’ Provident Fund came into existence with the promulgation of the Employees’ Provident Funds Ordinance on the 15th November, 1951. It was replaced by the Employees’ Provident Funds Act, 1952. The Employees’ Provident Funds Bill was introduced in the Parliament as Bill Number 15 of the year 1952 as a Bill to provide for the institution of provident funds for employees in factories and other establishments. The Act is now referred as the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 which extends to the whole of India except Jammu and Kashmir. The Act and Schemes framed there under are administered by a tri-partite Board known as the Central Board of Trustees, Employees’ Provident Fund, consisting of representatives of Government (Both Central and State), Employers, and Employees.
The Central Board of Trustees administers a contributory provident fund, pension scheme and an insurance scheme for the workforce engaged in the organized sector in India. The Board is assisted by the Employees’ PF Organization (EPFO), consisting of offices at 135 locations across the country. The Organization has a well equipped training set up where officers and employees of the Organization as well as Representatives of the Employers and Employees attend sessions for trainings and seminars.The EPFO is under the administrative control of Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.
