News And Views On Strike Withdrawal

Bank unions defer proposed strike on January 7-Economic Times 07.01.2015

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: Public sector bank employee unions have defered their one-day
strike, proposed for tomorrow, while negotiations will continue tomorrow with
the management representatives on wage hike and other issues.

Bank unions have deferred the strike as Indian  Banks Association (IBA) improved the offer to 12.5 per cent from 11 per  cent, United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) Convener M V Murali told PTI.

The UFBU is the umbrella organisation of nine bank employees and officer unions.


All India Bank Employees Association General Secretary C H  Venkatachalam said negotiations would continue tomorrow as the unions have not  agreed to the improved offer.

"We will continue to negotiate for  further improvement in the wage revision with the IBA," Venkatachalam said.


The wage revision of public sector bank employees has been due since  November 2012.

"We have scaled down our demand from 25 per cent to 23 per cent (wage hike) and further
to 19.5 per cent. We want a respectable hike in line with inflationary  pressure," Ashwini Rana, General Secretary of National Organisation of Bank Workers, said.


To press for their demand, the bank unions had gone on four-day  rotational strike between December 2-5.

There are 27 public sector  banks in the country with a combined employee strength of about 8 lakh. There  are about 50,000 branches of these banks across the country. 

Link Economic Times

Sri Biswajit Ghosh______Just ridiculous. Ours demand is 25% whereas they have offered just 12.5% and we have deferred the strike call. Its true that it is not final yet and the negotiation will continue tomorrow too. It is also true that in any negotiation the room for discussion should always be kept open. But I doubt whether negotiations are on or a fixed game is being given the shape of hard fought winner. What the hell happened today that our national leaders suddenly deferred the strike call wh...en IBA offered half of our demand after 26 months. As actual discussions are never brought before the members we can only guess and my guessing are either they have been threatened or offered something glittery or both. Pushing the members towards an uncertain tomorrow our all India leaders are enjoying the comfort and luxury like of a 5 star hotel in the name of negotiation. Playing dirty has become the habit of our leaders. The highly rich grey component of our leaders will surely make them a place in the Madame Tussads museum but at the same time we will also need to find our place with bowls in hand.

PTI | January 06, 2015, 19.01 pm IST[latest news]
New Delhi: Public sector bank employee unions have defered their one-day strike, proposed for January 7, while negotiations will continue tomorrow with the management representatives on wage hike and other issues.

 Bank unions have deferred the strike as Indian Banks Association (IBA) improved the offer to 12.5 per cent from 11 per cent, said United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) Convener, M V Murali. The UFBU is the umbrella organisation of nine bank employees and officer unions. All India Bank Employees Association General Secretary C H Venkatachalam said negotiations would continue tomorrow as the unions have not agreed to the improved offer.

 "We will continue to negotiate for further improvement in the wage revision with the IBA," Venkatachalam said. The wage revision of public sector bank employees has been due since November 2012. "We have scaled down our demand from 25 per cent to 23 per cent (wage hike) and further to 19.5 per cent. We want a respectable hike in line with inflationary pressure," Ashwini Rana, General Secretary of National Organisation of Bank Workers, said.




Pannavalan Pann-------
As I am hearing from many of my friends at various banks and different places, there is a very serious rift between AIBEA and AIBOC. For whatever reasons known to them only, AIBEA is so desperate to reach the settlement at the earliest, without thinking about the ultimate benefit derived. So, they have readied themselves to stoop very low to sign the settlement soon. What is the role and stance of unions like NCBE in this background?


Sunit Kumar --------

अजीब दास्तान है ये
जो लोग कल तक UFBU की 7 जनवरी की स्ट्राइक boycott करने की मुखालफत कर रहे थे आज वो ही रो पीट रहे है इस्स एक दिन के स्ट्राइक के कॉल को defer करने से
भैया पहले मीटिंग की पूरी जानकारी तो बाहर आने दो। आप तो पहले भी चाहते थे की 7 जनवरी की स्ट्राइक वापस ली जाए, आपकी मांग मान ली गई समझो
...

रही बात IBA द्वारा 12.5 (यानि 1.5% बढ़ाने) ऑफर का विरोध करने की तो भैया, आईबीए ने ये पहली बार तो किया नहीं है। पहले तो दो बार उन्होने 0.5% तक ऑफर किया हुआ है। ईस बार तो काफी ज़्यादा कर दिया।
UFBU द्वारा अपनी मांग कम करने की कोई official जानकारी बाहर नहीं आयी है न UFBU की तरफ से न IBA के तरफ से तो फिलहाल उस पर कोई बहस नहीं होनी चाहिए।
हमलोग को कल होने वाले IBA और UFBU की मीटिंग के परिणाम का इंतज़ार करना चाहिए

Krishna Kumar---------
To All Respected UFBU Leaders
Please don't come under pressure of IBA. We are fully ready for 4 days and Indefinite STRIKE. We want respectable Wage Revision more than that we got previously. Please don't release pressure. We will prefer to work on present wages but not begging. Pls take hard stand. Believe us we are ready for Indefinite STRIKE. Dekhna hai zor kitna bazue qatil me hai. This is public opinion. People are not happy with withdrawal of one day Strike merely on 1.5% hike by IBA. We will see how they will run the banks. We were having full faith upon the wisdom of you all. Please take a hard stand. We are ready to obey any call.


Tapabrata Biswas----------
A news to all of my Bankers:
I have sent a sms to Mr.Harvinder Singh,General secretary of AIBOC just now asking about what was happen in the meeting with IBA!
Very surprisingly he called me just a while ago.We had a conversation for 10 min.He informed Clerical union was ready to sign in just 11%,untill those retired employee be in Union nothing would be happen with us,he added.Offer may increases upto 15% as he hinted ,also Govt threatening to implement ESMA for bank officers also!! but all 5 days banking and regulated working for officers were like day's dream!!!


Diwakar Jha---
When our wage-revision is going ahead, we should restrict our language in speaking against UFBU. The fact is that we all belong to some association, which is constituent of UFBU. Indirectly we all are sitting in UFBU. To what extent it is justified to speak against UFBU (our mother association). One thing I would like to add, please come forward to make UFBU stronger. This is essential for present bi-partite as well as for future bipartite also. Representation by vibrant and experienced people will make it more strong. Please avoid such facebook-lions, who are trying to weaken us by misguiding and also giving indirect favour to IBA by divide and rule. Be united and follow the process.


 



 

Top posts at state-run banks to be filled in two months-Business Standard 07.01.2015

Government to insist on younger PSU bank chiefs, might tap the private sector

 

Days after announcing the appointment of managing directors and chief executives at four public sector banks (Union Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Vijaya Bank) the government has begun the ground work to make selections for grade-A state-run banks Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank.

Sources indicate IDBI Bank is also likely to be shifted to a category-A bank. According to finance ministry officials, they are aiming to fill up the remaining posts at PSBs within two months.

The government will split the position of chairman and managing director (CMD) and the priority is to fill the post of managing directors first.

Like the recent appointments, this time as well, PSBs would have a non-executive chairman, giving operational responsibility to the managing director and CEO.

The finance ministry said that the appointment process of state-run banks’ chairmen would also be announced shortly.

The government is looking to hire younger talent, preferably under 60 years of age. Such candidates need to have at least 15 years of experience, three of which should be as board members. They will need to spend four years as part of a Group-A bank.

“The plan is to tap the private sector. But that might be difficult, given the difference in compensation models at private and public sector banks,” said a senior finance ministry official.

Among the shortlisted candidates in the running for the posts is B K Batra, deputy managing director at IDBI Bank, who had earlier been in the race for the top job at United Bank of India.

Then there are B B Joshi, currently serving as executive director at Bank of Baroda; R K Goyal, executive director at Central Bank; and Mukesh Kumar Jain, executive director at Punjab and Sind Bank.

Some of the names under consideration are 58 years of age. The CMDs of PSBs were so far selected from other state banks only.

The appointments in PSBs are based on the recommendations of the Appointments Board chaired by the Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan.

The post of CMD of Bank of Baroda has been vacant since July 31, 2014 while Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank have been headless since October 2014.

In October last year, the government had cancelled the selection of heads of six state-run banks, beside 14 executive directors, as a government-appointed panel had found irregularities in the process.

These appointments had been made during the tenure of the earlier government.

The splitting of the CMD’s post was suggested by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the finance ministry. RBI had contended CMDs of PSBs enjoy absolute power along with boards.

According to the central bank, the CMDs often dominate the board during their tenure and, therefore, separating the post of CMDs would aid in empowering the board.