Under the leadership of the All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA), employees of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India organized a symbolic one-hour walkout in various parts of India. Their main demand was for the immediate recruitment of new staff, especially in Class III and Class IV positions.
Concerns About Staff Shortage
The employees expressed serious concerns about the government’s approach towards LIC and other public sector companies. They pointed out that the number of Class III and Class IV employees in LIC has significantly reduced over the years—from 57,441 in March 2017 to 45,762 in March 2024.
Additionally, out of 8,000 Class II vacancies announced in 2020, more than 2,700 positions were left unfilled. Instead of hiring new employees to fill these vacant positions, the government is relying on outsourcing, which is affecting LIC’s efficiency.
Suryanarayan, a union leader, highlighted that many employees will retire in the next few years. If new staff members are not hired soon, LIC will struggle to meet the growing needs of customers. He stressed that the shrinking workforce is creating a major challenge in maintaining LIC’s position as the leading insurance provider in India.
Impact on Employees and LIC
The employees also spoke about how the shortage of staff is putting extra pressure on those currently working at LIC. Due to increased workload, employees are facing stress, which is affecting both their health and the overall performance of the company.
Demand for Union Recognition
Another major issue raised during the protest was the lack of union recognition in LIC. Dattatreya, another labor leader, pointed out that LIC has the largest unionized workforce among public sector financial institutions, yet it does not have a recognized employees’ union.
He criticized LIC’s leadership for ignoring the democratic rights of workers and violating international labor laws. He mentioned that India is a signatory to International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions 87 and 98, which protect employees’ rights to form and recognize trade unions. However, LIC’s refusal to recognize the AIIEA as an official union goes against these agreements.
The employees demanded that LIC management take immediate steps to formally recognize AIIEA as a union since it has the support of over 80% of LIC’s workforce.
Earlier LIC Employees protested against increase of FDI to 100% in insurance sector. In budget 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the FDI Limit on insurance sector has been increased to 100%.
The insurance sector was denationalised with the passage of the IRDA Bill 1999 which permitted Indian capital to operate in the insurance industry in partnership with foreign companies, the speakers said.
From 26% during the initial days, it was increased to 74%. With the exception of one, no insurance company was anywhere near breaching the 74% FDI limit and in fact, the total FDI in insurance was only around 32% of the capital employed.
I am too much frustrate to hear since last thirty years that “staff is short”
at the time of panedemuc covid there is shortage of staff at place of creamation, there were laying dead bodies but only limited persons were there and the bodies which were fetched from hospitals in morning at 5 am, were creamated in evening.
There were shortage of staff.
I concluded in those days that in India everywhere “shortage of staff” from the hospitals where a soul comes in the world and also where souls start their journey for another world.