CPM proposes three-fold jump in remuneration in a bid to retain wholetimers, woo new members

KOLKATA: The poor man’s party seems to have been bitten by the corporate bug. In a bid to retain wholetimers and attract new members, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has proposed a two-to-three-fold jump in their remuneration by bringing in a comprehensive “minimum wage” system along with a “scientific retirement policy”.

A proposal to this effect has been placed in the party plenum and a resolution is expected to be passed on Thursday, the closing day. The party at present has 10,358 whole-timers all over the country, including about 6,000 from West Bengal. Sources said the number of whole-timers has fallen sharply and membership, too, has dropped after the Left Front was dethroned in West Bengal.

“We are discussing a central policy for the whole-timers. We will include a scientific retirement policy for them, too. The comrades who have dedicated their entire life for the party neither have an earning outside the party nor any savings to lead their life when they age,” said Prakash Karat, former general secretary and a Polit Bureau member of the CPM. “We have many aging cadres who cannot retire because if they do so, they would starve. So, we are working it out.”

Whole-timers currently get Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 as monthly wages. The proposal states there should be uniformity in payments to the cadres and a minimum central scale. The minimum wage should be fixed based on the central policy of the trade unions, which is about Rs 10,000. Another point mentioned the pay structure fixed at the Indian Labour Conference, which can go up to Rs 16,000.