(Registered under the Trade Unions Act 1926, Registration No.:3427/Delhi)
C/o Bank of India, Parliament Street Branch
PTI Building, 4, Parliament Street, New Delhi: 110001
Phone:011-23730096 Tel/Fax 23719431
E-Mail: aiboc.sectt@gmail.com
Circular No. 2016/37
Date: 19/07/2016
TO ALL AFFILIATES/MEMBERS OF THE STATE UNITS Dear Comrade,
OUR STRIKE NOTICE FOR STRIKE ON 11.12.2015 CONCILIATION PROCEEDINGS HELD ON 18.07.2016 BEFORE ALC(C) MUMBAI
The next round of Conciliation proceedings in the matter of Strike Notice dated 27.11.2015, served by AIBOC on IBA and all member Banks for All India Strike on 11.12.2015, was held before Shri M.S. Rajasekharan, Assistant Labour Commissioner (C), Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Shramraksha Bhawan, Mumbai, on 18.07.2016. Shri K.S. Chauhan, Vice President represented Indian Banks’ Association. Your General Secretary, Com. Sanjay Manjrekar-Vice President and Com. M.B. Tripathi-State Secretary, AIBOC MS-I represented our Organisation. The Assistant Labour Commissioner asked IBA about the developments that took place after the last meeting held on 15.06.2016.
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
IBA representative informed that all issues raised by AIBOC in their Strike Notice dated 27.11.2015, pertaining to Government Policies have already been brought to the Notice of the Government of India, Minister of Finance, Department of Financial Services, including privatization of Public Sector Banks in witting on 30.11.2015 itself.
He informed that these issues are attracting the attention of Government which only has to take decisions on these issues and as such it is out of the purview of the IBA to comment more on this issue.
ANOMALY DUE TO STAGNATION INCREMENT
With regard to anomaly in stagnation increment, IBA reiterated that since the fourth (additional) stagnation increment has been granted w.e.f. 01.05.2015, the effect of stagnation increment cannot be given back dated. Circular with regard to removal of anomaly has already been issued and the matter stands resolved. We agreed to the view.
WORKING ON SUNDAYS AND HOLIDAYS
IBA advised that on the demand of AIBOC, an advisory has already been sent to member Banks that Officers should not be called on Sundays and Holidays. He further submitted that most of the member banks have advised IBA that if the Officers are required to work on Sundays/Holidays, they are compensated for the same. He also submitted the details of
compensation/compensatory off given by seventeen member Banks to officers called for working on Sundays and Holidays in case of exigencies. (Attached)
MEDICAL INSURANCE FOR RETIREES
On the issue of denial of domiciliary expenses, IBA representative assured that the matter is strongly being taken up with the insurance company, more particularly in the review meeting held on 20.06.2016. He informed that United India Insurance Company Ltd. has assured to come out with an amicable solution in this regard at the earliest.
However with regard to the issue of Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd., IBA reiterated that this is a Bank specific issue and concerned bank may be asked to submit comments in this regard. In other issues, the IBA maintained their earlier stand.
While submitting our views on the decisions taken by IBA, we reiterated that in view of the fact that we do not have any platform to discuss the policy matters of the Government, all these issues need to be taken up by/through IBA only. The Assistant Labour Commissioner suggested IBA to further follow up these matters, particularly regarding privatization of Public Sector Banks with Department of Financial Services, Government of India. He assured us that he himself will also be taking up all the issues raised in Strike Notice including that of privatization of Public Sector Banks and delay in appointment of Directors on the Boards of the Banks with the Government. On our demand for prosecution of the guilty in this regard, he informed that since the Notice of this Industrial dispute could not be sent to CEOs of the Banks, this step is not possible now. On the issue of proposed changes in Labour Laws, the ALC advised that this issue needs to be taken up with appropriate Ministry, i.e. Labour Ministry, as directed by him in the last meeting.
On the issue of compensation for calling officers on Sundays and Holidays, ALC advised IBA to frame uniform policy with regard to payment of allowances as demanded by AIBOC. He also directed IBA to expedite the issue of medical insurance to retirees. In view of the above proceedings and on our request/demand, the proceedings of the Conciliation were closed. The report on these proceedings shall be sent by him to the Government.
Comrades, the proceedings have been closed at our request. This was necessary in order to precipitate and restart our agitation on the pending issues. The decision about opposition to privatization and merger is already being pursued through our Save Public Sector Campaign. Call for All India Strike against Government policies on 29th of July, 2016 has been given under the banner of UFBU and Notice for the same has been served on IBA and Banks. Our Confederation is planning to observe one day strike exclusively on the issue on delay in appointment of Workmen/Non-Workmen Directors on the Boards of the Bank, as we feel that due to non representation of Officers/Employees, the Bank Managements are taking arbitrary decisions which are against the employees and Public Sector Banks. We shall keep you apprised of the developments.
With revolutionary greetings,
Comradely yours,
(HARVINDER SINGH) GENERAL SECRETARY
Bank employee strike: Why the trade unions are fighting a losing battle-First Post -29th July 2016
The bank employee union strike on Friday to protest against the proposed merger of State Bank of India (SBI’s) remaining subsidiaries with the parent and the privatization of IDBI Bank, signals a key hurdle India faces on the path to reform its crisis-ridden public sector banks.
Trade Unions are likely fighting a losing battle as we have seen in the last two instances when the government merged two of the subsidiaries with the parent, State Bank of Indore and State Bank of Saurashtra. If the government decisively moves ahead with the proposals, there isn’t much the trade unions can do but fall in line.
So is the case of privatization process of IDBI Bank, where the government wants to lower the stake to below the controlling 51 per cent.
Nevertheless, each bank strike causes disruptions to the general public even though the effectiveness of bank strikes, over the years, have weakened as most banks are fast moving away from branch-centric banking to alternative modes.
Customers today can use ATMs, internet and mobile banking services for basic banking transactions even on a strike day. But, other transactions that require the customer must go to the branch gets disrupted. This time around, bank unions under the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) have planned the strike as Parliament is in session and unions want their voice to be heard in the House.
Privatising nationalised banks
Today, there is a strong case for privatisation of nationalised banks, at least some of them to begin with. One could argue that four decades of nationalization is largely a failed experiment as evident from the health of state-run banks and considering the progress they have made on achieving their original goal—promoting financial inclusion. State-run banks, all 27 of them, continue to be the extended divisions of the incumbent governments and mere tools to role out government schemes and become victims to corporate-political nexus. These banks still lack autonomy and scope to innovate in major way unlike their private sector counter parts.
The private sector banks continue to be much healthier than state-run lenders on all parameters on account of the free market principle they operate in. Only those which have improvised their business models have been able to survive. The laggards have been forced to shut shop or merge with stronger rivals over time. Those remaining are fit to face competition and find capital from the market time to time by growing healthy balance sheets.
As against this, state-run banks continue to be the finest specimens of white elephants in the Indian banking sector. They wait for their turn with a begging bowl every year in front of North Block for survival money. This ‘begging bowl syndrome’ has been present since the time they were born. They still continue to be a heavy burden on the state exchequer. In the last nine years, the government has infused Rs 1.18 lakh crore in state-run banks, including the Rs 23,000 crore infused so far this fiscal year. SBI has received the largest pie (Rs 29,000 crore). But, this money has only contributed to a fraction of the massive capital requirement of government banks given their huge funding gap to meet the Basel-III norms, bad loan provisioning (about 11-12 per cent of the bank loans are currently stressed) and credit expansion requirements.
Begging bowl syndrome
Global rating agency, Fitch, estimates Indian banks will need $90 billion in total additional capital - most of which will be accounted for by the public banks - to meet Basel III requirements by 2019. This year, the government has infused Rs 22,900 crore. But, rating agency, Icra, estimates that PSBs would require capital in the range of Rs 40,000 crore to Rs 50,000 crore for the period. This ‘begging bowl syndrome’ is likely to worsen in the approaching years.
Forty seven years after Indira Gandhi announced their nationalization, nothing much has changed in PSBS. Except the largely cosmetic changes in government-programmes like the ‘Indradhanush’ offer, PSBs continue to be largely extended arms of the government. A large part of the burden of social sector funding, priority sector lending and making government schemes successful still fall on them on a regular basis. This is something Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan has highlighted in the recent past. But the major reason for the current NPA (Non-performing Assets) mess in these banks is their lack of efficiency in credit appraisal process and careless lending practices to grow their loan books.
Till recently, every outgoing chairman wanted to show maximum growth in the bank's business volume while little attention was paid on quality of growth. Autonomy of operations and scope to innovate was a word too distant for these entities. The idea of nationalization—take banking services to millions of unbanked—has progressed but still remains a task far from the target.
The purpose of explaining these facts is to make a case for privatisation of state-run banks in the changing banking industry, which seems to be the only way to bring efficiency in these banks. This doesn’t need to be done at one go. Smaller banks can be experimented with in the initial phase and at the end of the whole exercise, the government can still retain 4-5 large public sector banks.
But, the status-quo cannot go forever in the fast changing world of banking. As Firstpost noted in an earlier article, the big and imminent problem for PSBs is that the industry around them is changing too fast. With new payments banks and small finance banks stepping in and existing private banks ramping up their technology base, the competition has intensified a lot. These new lenders are relying heavily on technology such as mobile and internet banking rather than traditional brick and mortar model. These banks typically target the young customer-segment in the urban, semi-urban areas that are tech savvy. In comparison to them, PSBs have failed to catch up in the desired manner.
Trade unions in state-run banks, in the past, has acted as a powerful corrective force against the excesses by bank managements but has somewhat lost steam in the recent years with the newly joined young officers and employees showing no active interest union activities, even though most of them religiously contribute to the monthly subscription fees. However, one cannot ignore the fact that the trade unions continue to be a formidable force in nationalized banks. A confrontation between unions and the managements will only be self-destructive for both. In this backdrop, bank trade unions should seriously rethink their course and priorities for the greater good of the banking sector. Else, they are fighting a losing battle.
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