Email To CHV. AIBEA

Dear Comrade Venktachalam, GS AIBEA,

This is in reference to your email dated 01.10.2019 addressed to convener of UFBU. I have gone through various messages flashed by various associations in the electronic media, whatsapp group of bank’s serving & retirees & banks pensioner blog and on the basis of the same, I am expressing below the poor state of affairs of the banker’s fraternity in India.
Your Resentment, anger and umbrage
I have gone through your email dated 01.10.2019 thoroughly & painstakingly addressed to convener of UFBU in regard to decision of IBA instructing MD’s of all the banks for making adhoc payment to its all the employees/officers pending finalization of 11th Bi-partite settlement, which is still underway. You have very precisely & rightly expressed & communicated in the aforesaid email your resentment, anger and umbrage in regard to IBA’s unilateral decision without deliberating the same in the Bi-partite proceedings. 
I can well envisage & imagine your heart-felt & earnest annoyance, irritation and rage on this issue, as GS of AIEBA, which is one of the main constituents of UFBU but I feel and sense that no attempt & endeavor has been made to understand & realize that as AIBEA has  not been able to reinforce & fortify 100% unity in UFBU, which is precisely an united front framed by late comrade Tarakeshwar for the purpose of strengthening the spirit & guts of unionism in the banking industry ensuring befitting fight & struggle with IBA in arriving at a better & improved bi-partite wage settlements.
Lack of unity amongst all the constituents of UFBU
Alas!!!!! Over a period time, it can be observed that there has been lack of unity amongst the 9 constituents of UFBU and I therefore sense & believe that your role as GS of AIEBA, the oldest employees association has remained pitiable & contemptible in forging unyielding & unbending unity in UFBU with the result that the dream of late comrade Tarakeshwar appeared to be disappearing & vanishing, who struggled hard in framing out UFBU during his era of leadership. Since you have a dominating role in UFBU, it is a feeling amongst the banker’s fraternity that the onus & obligation of lack of unity in UFBU purely and solely is attributable to CHV and more so it is also felt that you are only person having such a tall stature in UFBU, who can bring back this unity in all the constituents of UFBU.

Further, many of the bankers sense and feel that over a period of time, the era of selfless, noble & sacrificing leadership , which could be felt  & sensed under the leadership of old comrades like comrade Parvana  & comrade Prabhat Kar has been fading & vanishing down incessantly & continually during the last 10-15 years. IBA which is the main party in the bi-partite settlement on behalf of the Management could smell & tang this weakness & drawback of lack of unity in

UFBU, as a result and consequence of which UFBU has not been able to persuade and influence vehemently & fervidly to negotiate better wage revision during the last 4 bi-partite settlements.
Gloominess & murkiness image of Bank officer in the present scenario 
It is really a matter of disgrace, mortification & humiliation that in the absence of lack of unity in UFBU, the present salary structure of Grade one officer of bank has come down to just 49.23% of its counterpart in central government, while the salary of Grade one officer of bank during the period 1970-72 was slightly higher than its counterpart in the central Government. During the period 1970-75, grade one officer in the banks always remained as the first preference & choice as a marriage partner but during the last 20-25 years, this coveted charm, attraction and charisma vested with bank officers has vanished gradually and consequently the bank officer now ranks at number 10 in the scale of 1-10 in the choice & preference of matrimonial and nuptial proposals. Have you ever thought & deliberated on this issue as to who is responsible and accountable in downgrading the glorious & celebrated status of grade one officer of the banks?  Need is therefore felt to ponder & deliberate on this issue so that the dignity of the bank officer could be brought back to a level, where every officer of the bank can boast, swank and brag that he is one of the best earning person in India.

It has also been felt by the bankers that as GS of AIBEA, you are always able to make your influence over other 8 constituents of UFBU and take certain decisions which are unequivocally & unmistakably detrimental to the interest of banker’s fraternity, which in turn has definitely influenced in scaling down the pressure & force of UFBU on IBA. It happened few times in the past also and even in the running 11th bi-partite proceedings, although 4 officers unions gave strike notice beginning 25th Sept 2019 but AIEBA, which is one of the main association did not join in this strike call scheduled from 25.09.2019 to 27.09.2019 & indefinite strike during the month of November 2019 but you nevertheless contemplated  to shy away & withdraw from the proposed strike, rather  opted to declared strike for 20th October 2019 not on the issue of wage revision, rather on the issue of merger of banks. 

Wage revision and merger of banks are two separate issues and looking to the critical importance of issue of merger of banks, it could had been a matter of great prudence, in the event AIBEA & UFBU had given notice of strike when two banks were merged with Bank of Baroda few months back.  At that juncture, there was an opportunity to express & maintain solidarity & camaraderie amongst the banker’s fraternity but strangely enough, AIEBA did not come forward to go for strike on that merger issue that happened in the past.

Such arrogant & big-headed stand on wage negotiations in not having declared notice of strike by all the constituents of UFBU in one voice displays & demonstrate lack of unity in UFBU. It is really shocking & dreadful that 4 officers associations took a prudent & sensible decision to declare strike for three days but AIEBA opted to shy away from this strike and consequently allowing adhoc payment by IBA pending finalization of 11 th bi-partite settlement without being discussed in the BPS deliberations is the repercussion of AIBEA not participating in strike call given by officer’s associations. Most of the bankers feel and sense there is a need to forge and fortify 100% unity in UFBU so that all the charter of demands are approved in unified & cohesive manner.

The game plan of IBA in introducing PLPI in the 11th bi-partite should also be thwarted intensively & vehemently, as in the BPS deliberations, AIEBA has not opposed & conflicted vehemently & fervently the move of PLP in the running 11th bipartite proceedings, rather agreed to have discussions in the next meetings, although nowhere in the Public Sector undertakings, the concept of PLPI exists. AIBEA & UFBU need to review this decision, as PLPI shall damage & injure the sentiments of the employees/officers of the banking industry and therefore it is high time to thwart & frustrate the game plan of IBA to keep bank’s employees/officers under clutches of IBA.  There is no second opinion that PLPI is a truly & strictly a suicidal and this concept & model should be demolished and knocked down before its eats out the serving banking fraternity & organization.

In BPS deliberations, as a trade union leader, you need not demand a specified % age of wage hike; rather a different & diverse model should be proposed focusing on matching the starting pay scale of a clerk in bank with the starting salary of a clerk in central government. Likewise, the salary of grade one officer of bank needs to be matched with the present salary of grade one officer in the central Government.  It is high time that the % age formula of hike in wages of banks employees needs to be scrapped & knocked down; rather there should be deliberations of matching bank’s pay scales with counterparts of central government. This needs 100% unity in UFBU leaving behind ego & personality clash of individuals. Let us not forget the tested slogan “United, we stand and divided we fall”  !!!!!!!!!!!
What exactly Unity connotes & indicates?
Now I would like to place before you the exact and precise essence & distillate of unity but before that I am presenting another picture of father and son relationship in the present scenario with a rider & prerequisite that CHV (proposed as father of a son) is an ordinary serving employee in a bank in non-subordinate cadre and vested without any tag of officer- bearer status in AIEBA. 

Assume that in olden years, CHV drew a meager & skimpy salary in the bank but still with these odds & probabilities you provided decent education to your son and after attaining age of 22, your son got a decent job with handsome salary. At the age of 25, your son got married and you are still serving in the bank with a salary of Rs. 40,000/- per month. Your son is obedient and feels indebted to you for taking care of him in a dignified manner, when he happened to be a student and therefore keeping in view true regards for you, he had been sending you token money of Rs. 20,000/- every month so that you can lead a dignified life. After 5 years of his marriage, he is having 2 kids and now he feels that he has his own family obligations and therefore he will not be able to send you that token money, which he had been sending you for the last 8 years.

Further, at this juncture, you also get retired from bank service and are getting pension of about Rs. 20000/- to Rs. 25,000/-per month.

Quite naturally, you must be feeling handicapped & suffocated with meager pension of Rs. 20,000/- to Rs.25000/- per month but your son is not able to send you that token money in view of his incessant liabilities & responsibility towards his nuclear family but at the same time whenever you get an opportunity to be with your close friends or close relatives, sometimes you may release your tension in complaining that your son has now changed and he is no more sending you any money, in spite of the fact that  your medical expenses after retirement have increased manifolds and besides you have to bear very high level of medical insurance premium for meeting medical related risks that may crop in at any moment of time.

The moot & arguable question here is; will CHV breakup relations with his son at this juncture?.          I personally feel you will never break relations with your son!!!!!!!!!!.
Building of 100% unity & thwarting the attempt of IBA to pursue the doctrine of “Divide & Rule”
Now assume that you are still attaining the status of GS of AIBEA even after retirement and all the employees in the entire banking industry feel that you are a fatherly figure for all such employees.  In token of revision of wages in all the bi-partite settlements, AIBEA has been getting levy from all the employees registered with your association, which is a common & universal practice in the banking industry.  Now look at a situation that all those employees in work men cadre who had been paying levy and annual membership fee to AIBEA for more than 30 years get retired at the age of 60. 

Do you think that the fatherly relations with those retired employees in the workmen cadre will breakup & fade away, as these are the persons who elevated you to the present status of being GS of AIBEA? And if you feel that just by retirement, you will not remain fatherly figure to such retired employees; I feel & sense that your thought by all means does not sound in good taste, as this thought will speak of creation of disunity in the entire banker’s fraternity, since while being in service, of the bank, these retired employees always supported the cause of unionism in AIEBA.

Needless to mention here that Mahatma Gandhi was father of the nation and so under his leadership, all the Indians remained united irrespective whether they were young or old, men or women, poor or rich, Brahmins or non Brahmins and with this unyielding support of all the Indians, Mahatma Gandhi was able to secure freedom from a mighty British ruler.  This was the result of 100% unity.  Till now, Mahatma Gandhi has become a name for unity, which is recognized & accepted not only in India but everywhere in the world.

Dividing employees in two different categories (serving & retired) is a dividing doctrine and that was adopted by British rulers to divide our country as a consequence of which India remained a British colony for more than 300 years. Indians with population of about 20 crores remained slaves of handful of British rulers for more than 300 years.

In the present scenario, IBA is performing the role akin to British rulers, who always attempted to follow the doctrine of divide & Rule in the banker’s fraternity but AIEBE & other constituents of UFBU must thwart & impede all such ill attempts of IBA in this direction and that will be possible only, if CHV is able to unite all the banker’s fraternity in a most selfless and sacrificing spirit & courage.

Allowing of adhoc payment to all the serving employees without deliberations with UFBU pending finalization of 11th Bi-partite settlement is a pointer in this direction and displays well the doctrine of “Divide and Rule” on the part of IBA and quite naturally your anger and protest over this issue is worth praising and any such attempts on the part of IBA should always be thwarted vigorously in a unified manner in future too.
Associations of Central Government & RBI Employees
The unions of central government employees are always united, unified and cohesive, resultantly in getting revised the pay scales of central government employees without much difficulty and more so the central Government retirees also get automatically handsome pension on each CPC. The unity of central Government employees has provided dividends to all the employees and retirees and as a trade union leader, it becomes incumbent on your part also to imbibe selfless and sacrificing instincts in yourself as seen in the leadership of central government employees associations so that under your leadership, the banker fraternity (both serving & retired) can feel a sigh of relief with your better bargaining skills in finalizing a soothing 11 th Bi-partite settlement, with a proper focus in achieving matching pay scales of counterparts in central government.

Another befitting and relevant example is of serving employees of RBI, who joined hands with the RBI Retirees associations and sent notice for strike for revision of pension of RBI retirees and looking to the seriousness & gravity of the situation of strike notice that may result huge losses to the country,  Central Government ultimately bowed down & approved the revision in pension of RBI employees/officers during the month of March 2019, the ultimate benefit of which will not only went to existing retirees but also to all the serving employees of RBI who shall get retired during the next 25 years.


Adding Retirees United front in Bi-partite Settlement
It is food for thought that united front of retirees may also be made as one of the party for negotiating various pending issues of retirees in the Bi-partite settlements.  The stand of IBA that they do not have the mandate from the banks is just an eyewash and illogical excuse & pretext, as IBA allowed 2nd option of pension to bank’s retirees without seeking any mandate from the banks and further bank’s retirees were allowed to enter medical insurance scheme without seeking any mandate from the banks.

The premium on this medical insurance scheme was put on the shoulders of poor bank’s retirees, although DFS advised IBA in the year 2012 to arrange medical insurance policy for the entire banker’s fraternity including retirees and premium in this regard be met out from the  welfare funds of the banks for both serving employees and retirees as well but IBA opted cleverly & ingeniously to advise banks to recover premium from the retirees, while the premium for serving staff be made from the banks. Such indiscrimination is again another example of doctrine of “Divide And Rule” by IBA and this needs to be reviewed by UFBU, as those retirees who retired in the year 1997-2000 are getting just meager pension and it is not viable for them to bear ever increasing cost of medical insurance, which has increased more than 4 times since its introduction in the year 2015.

This is a grave & severe injustice & unfairness meted out to the bank’s retirees, especially to the retirees in the subordinate cadre and family pensioners. Need is therefore felt to provide free medical insurance policy to all the bank’s retirees.

Alas!!!!!!! There was no serious attempt & endeavor on the part of AIBEA to prevail upon IBA by taking reference to DFS letter dated 24.02.2012, which aimed at providing free medical insurance to serving and retired personnel. Hence, in the 10th bi-partite settlement, this issue of free medical insurance policy should had been protested & dissented but AIBEA  lost this opportunity to save the poor retirees . All these retirees remained loyal & faithful to AIBEA for more than 30 years and they were precisely and truthfully instrumental in proving you the coveted status of General Secretary of AIBEA but you ignored & disregarded the interest of all these retirees, thus not sticking to the doctrine of “Selfless And Sacrificing Instincts & Character” of a good trade union leader.

The total strength of serving employees in the banking industry is about 10 lacs, besides retirees who are having strength of 5 lacs. Most of the employees who joined during the period 1990-95 shall get retired by the end of 2025 and therefore the strength of retirees will go up from existing level of 5 lacs, while the strength of serving employees will come down from present level of 10 Lacs.

Over a period of time the collective banker’s fraternity force will be definitely more than 15-17 lacs and with all this combined force, AIBEA, UFBU & United Front of Retirees can definitely and unequivocally create a cohesive & unified strength in the banking industry and they can easily win over handful officials of IBA, who never appreciated the sufferings and agonies being faced by the entire banker’s fraternity.

Inclusion of the following in the Charter of demands by AIBEA & UBFU 
Old comrades like comrade Parvana and comrade Prabhat Kar are still remembered by the entire banker’s fraternity since they proved to be “Selfless And Most Sacrificing Leaders” & they always took care of all the banker’s fraternity in a most befitting manner. With a view to maintain & uphold your voice & influence amongst the banker’s fraternity, it will be a matter of prudence and good leadership, in the event, if you take all the constituents of UFBU with you as one sole and fight vigorously, energetically & dynamically with IBA and DFS with a spirit & courage of unyielding & unbending fashion & mode, so that the following demands are approved in the 11th bi-partite settlement:

Matching salary of bank’s clerk with the salary of the clerk in central government  and matching of grade one officer of bank with grade one officer of central government with no compromise & conciliation, ignoring & disregarding the % age method of wage hike, as this % age method proved to be a coffin & casket for banker’s fraternity in the past few settlements.  Kindly take all the 4 officers association in your confidence so that you have 100% support of all the constituents of UFBU.

All other demands mentioned in your COD

Pension up-dation of retirees similar to what has been approved for RBI Retirees.

Revision of Family Pension of Bank’s retirees similar to what has been approved for RBI.

100% DA neutralization of Pre-2002 Bank’s retires, with arrears from the date of retirement as approved for RBI.

Free Medical insurance Policy for all retirees

100% unity to be maintained by AIEBA with 4 officers association, who have taken a positive stand on the issue of all the retirees demands.

Bank Pension Funds & Positive response of 4 officers association
It is a fact that pension funds of the banks are always showing increasing trends and have reached to a level of Rs. 300 lacs crores and the present payout of pension from the pension funds of all the bank’s retirees is much below the accretion of interest inflow and therefore the   stand of IBA that funds are not sufficient enough to meet the cost of updation of pension is merely & purely an eyewash & illogical excuse & pretext just to refrain & renounce the benefit of updation to bank’s retirees. More so, it is the duty of the employers to make suitable & appropriate arrangements & provisions as has been announced by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in various judgments and therefore AIEBA should never support IBA on this issue of shortage of funds as being felt by the banker’s fraternity.

The claim of IBA declaring cost of updation at Rs. 95,000/- crores is totally absurd, illogical and incongruous, rather the cost of updation for bank’s retirees in any case can’t exceed Rs. 10,000/-to Rs. 12,000/- crores. AIEBA should forcefully & vehemently thwart & frustrate this claim of IBA, since IBA has never come out with the breakup of the cost of updation. More so, it is the duty of the employers to make suitable & appropriate arrangements & provisions as has been announced by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in various judgments.
In view of foregoing, I will therefore pray, plead and request that as a leader of the banker’s fraternity (serving & retired both), you will take necessary steps as appealed in my aforesaid communication.

O.P.SHARMA
EX-OBC, NEW DELHI
Encl:
Analysis of the cost of updation of bank’s retirees vis-à-vis RBI retirees
Payout of pensioners of all the bank’s retirees for the year 2016-17 and 2017-18