Forum of Bank Pensioner Activists
PRAYAGRAJ
OPEN LETTER:
Sri S. K. Bandlish
Convenor
UFBU
&
It's Constituents
NICKNAME: navratna (nine gemstone)
- UFBU, AIBOC, NCBE, AIBOA, BEFI, INBEC, INBEF, NOBW & NOBO -
Dear Sirs,
Despite your heterogeneous attitude towards emanating communications from across banking fraternity, bank men continue knocking you in their utter dismay & frustrations due to mounting problems and no resolutions or remedies being found out by you and your constituents. We think, they are right in their perception, since they pay subscription, levy, donations to your constituents and responds to their calls. So, they must know and you must tell them too, as to what you all have been cooking for such long time, only smocks are coming out, but no food. Certain things, we may add here, which may help you and your constituents to understand, how your their members think about you & your constituents.
We unveil as under, some of the hard core facts, your failures and sheer lapses for which bank men hold UFBU, it's constituents and leaders responsible:
1. Bank men hold UFBU as name sake, just a carton box, at best a mask. It's your image in bank men mind. All UFBU constituents operate in their own way, on their agendas in disguised manner, to subserve their vested interests, instead common objectives for which the great combination of UFBU was brought in place. Ever since this mega formation came into being, all ills have started hunting wages, pension and service conditions of banking fraternity, as all constituents hiding from their organization's accountabilities, by wearing UFBU masks. If something happened wrong, onus was very conveniently shifted on other constituents of UFBU, as evident in chains.
2. There is clear hegimoney war in UFBU. Constituents have turned into different groups. This alignments, realignments groupism etc have been obviously to manage or propel cross conflicts among your constituents. These are well established facts, if a cursory look is given to chain of activities at UFBU level. The very common objectives, for which UFBU was formed, have been thrown in winds jointly and severely on number of occasions.
3. Your constituents reserve their right to disagree on your agreed points, irrespective of resultant credibility losses and collateral damages to organizations and banking fraternity. See as under:
Scene-1
Latest live drama you staged on 30.1.2020. In your own narratives and scripts on 30.1.2020, increase offer of 12% was increased to 12.5%, which you declined. IBA made it 13%, that too you said no. IBA increased it again to 13.5% that too was finally rejected by all of you.
Curtain dropped for interval.
Scene-2
IBA finally asked your demand. IBA asked you to tell after 'applying' your collective wisdom.
Curtain dropped again.
Scene-3
You all apply your mind to decide rise percentage. Having applied your mind, you 'collectively' and 'unanimously' decided to fix 15% rise as condition to defer strike. Obviously, 15% rise demand was worked out assuming as it unachievable in your perception, thus paving your way to strike, your political compulsions looming over head.
Scene-4
In your own narrative, you told IBA of your 15% pay rise as precondition to defer strike.
Pause:
Scene-5
In above back drop, you were invited by IBA Chairman, at SBI Corporate Office. You all reach there. Entered Chairman's domain. He offered you all seat. Among you, Shahnshah sat and all others, except 2 on left & right side, remained standing. Shahnshah looked, murmured sit...sit..take your seat. Then 2 remaining Navrtnas sat, bit hesitatingly. IBA Chairman, Rajnish Kumar, confirmed from you all about your consensus of 15% demand as condition to defer strikes. You all were affirmative in one voice. Rajnish Kumar conveyed you having agreed to 15% rise demand and requested to call off ensuing 2 days strike. Most of you fissiled out of your unanimous decision and backed out from conditions. Curtain dropped. 2 days Strike commenced, caused drain out to the tune of Rs.480 crores with an average pay of Rs.3000 per day for 8 lakh people.
4. You all constitute the pool of incompetent & inefficient people, having no expertise in Banking, finance or economy. No cause to dispute these facts. In opposite side, IBA is well equipped of competent, efficient and experts in banking, finance and economy. IBA think tank is guided and assisted by hired consultants in all operational issues including HR matters. In all your deals, ultimately IBA emerged victorious. Fall outs accumulated over 2 decades are now unbearable by banking fraternity, be it working or retired. This is bare truths.
5. Bank men doubt your integrity, hold you corrupt. It's the worst set back in the annals of history of Trade Union movement of banking in particular and others in general that the leaders suffer from such deep & precarious credibility deficits. Corruptions necessarily not mean, financial corruptions only. It includes corruption in decisions and dealings, affecting larger community interest adversely, as well. It's enormocity is in abundance, given a look to happenings.
6. Bank men take you as spineless, no tenacity and perseverance where needed. You all have been found bending, twisting, turning, agreeing to unagreeable points which resulted in various inconsistencies, flaws, unprincipled compromises in service conditions of bank men. To substantiate these observations, they have plenty of instances of which some we give below:
(A) Bank men hold you responsible for no pension revision, in last 20 years, despite 4 settlements and 5th one in sequence,
(B) Insertion of two different Basic Pay at 1616/1684 indices for Pension was at your instance to curtail pension outgo,
(C) Tapered DA to old Pensioners continues, despite discriminatory in nature, & against the verdict of Hon'ble SCI that in one establishment compensation can't be at variance,
(D) No 100% DA neutralization for pensioners, another discrimination in compensations,
(E) No Family Pension Revision. It continues at 15%, some 90000 family pensioners living hand to mouth,
(F) Discriminatory DA increase for working & pensioners on quarterly and half yearly basis respectively. It is also in violation of SCI verdicts,
(G) No health insurance to Retirees despite govt directive from Welfare Funds. DFS letter of 2012 is still not withdrawn, but not implemented with your tacit support to IBA,
(H) 75% pensioners are uncovered from any health cover. Minimum Rs. 3 lakh policy cover, which was of Rs.5600 in 2015-16 has been offered at Rs.25000 premium for 2019-20 in 5th year. Bank men think, you all are insensitive, insincere & unaware of health hazards of helpless pensioners, most cruel in nature,
(I) DFS circular of 2012, while allocating Welfare Funds, laid down some broad guide lines how to spend that. In all Welfare Committees, representatives of your consituents sit and decide the schemes and lay out. All WF monies are siphoned by your constituents to fatten their bellies. It's really shameful for a Trade Union institution to ignore the rights of poorly paid pensioners. There is no human consideration as to who really deserve greater welfare measures and whose needs are greater: fully paid bank men & well paid executives or poorly paid pensioners. It's ashaming condition that prevails for last 2 decades.,
(J) Creation of Special Allowance of 7.75% of basic in 10th settlement with malafide intention to curtail pension outgo to Spl Allowance holders,
(K) No notional increment benefit to officers as agreed in 10th Bipartite settlement,
(L) The greatest treachery you did in 2nd Pension Option agreement in which certain basic principles, already in Pensions Regulations, 1995, you dismantled and brought in place new terms, with devastating effect, hefty cost and immeasurable financial losses to 2nd optees. Bankers were given free hand to set conditions in this regards,
(M) Pension Scheme is an integral part of Pay, Allowances & Service Conditions, but you reached to Wage & Service conditions revision settlements excluding Pension Revision from 1998 onwards,
(N) In your CODs Pension Revision was always given casual mention, somewhere down side. According to you, it was mere a ploy issue to extract higher wage load by loading CODs by such demands to which you were neither serious nor interested.
(O) You brought derogatory changes in Pension Scheme at IBA will, on several occasions,
(P) You removed 1616/1684 imbroglio, calling it as aberration, but from prospective effect. To get justice, individuals had to battle with mighty Bankers upto SCI. In this Court battle none of you nor your pocket retiree Unions supported, but when success came, shamelessly your outfits collected levy from recipients of benefits,
(Q) Your settlements were losing the glitters, becoming poor and poorer settlement after settlement in comparison of Central Govt, other Public Sector establishments like Railways etc., but you all have been in deep slumber,
(R) Banks have been imposing workloads on bank men, diverting human resources to marketing of third party products, making core banking businesses redundant, resulting in perilous losses. You all allowed to convert precious Bank human resources into ordinary Insurance Agents. Top executives under their personal greed of 'considerations' from players, pushed human resources to work for Bima Bank job. Recovery of loans was side tracked inviting catastrophe of NPAs in banking,
(S) As Trade Union formation of such gigantic dimension, as you are to have 99% work force under one roof, you all failed to guess, guage and monitor as to how the political class was playing havoc with Banking resources during 2008-2012, in disguise of ownership authority. You all did it with deliberate intentions and are culprits,
(T) You all have double faces. You have always taken politically calibrated and motivated views to please your political masters. Your such policy hurt the interest & prospects of working fraternity. Your political affiliations alienated bank men from main esteem of Nation & people. Your such an attitude and actions marred the bright prospects of bank men. You could never built a heathy and harmonious or even workable relationship with owners. It brutally killed the importance and contributions of bank employees and officers in national context.
(U) You all have been pretentious in restructuring/ consolidation of PSBs simply for your vested interests. Union have become the green pasture of some retired bank leaders. Multiple Unions have become a source of employment to retired leaders. Consolidation was viewed as elop of such golden opportunities, thus you all provoked Bank men against restructuring of PSBs, a demand for which Unions agitated in 1980s and one consolidation of New Bank of India in PNB was done with. So far, several mergers have had been done, but you all uselessly still oppose it, knowing well, done is done, it can neither be reversed or stopped..
Etc. etc..
7. On many occasions, you all, among yourselves, appeared in cross fights annihilating each other. It was eloquently in display that of you 7 joined IBA dispensation to bring on knee 2 officers' wings. Among you 7 together agreed with IBA to clinch workmen demands, throwing officers fraternity in dust bin. Your such acts brought Officers wing on knee, crumbled & surrendered. You proved to be most opportunist among yourself.
8. You all have been pretentious lot, cheated Pensioners by false and frivolous assurances of Pension Revision. In 10th settlement biggest workmen Union had categorically made statement making promises not to sign settlement without Pension Revision, but in end you inked a death certificate of contractual relationships of Pensioners with their respective banks. This time, biggest Officers Association used it as a ploy to garner Pensioners support in their alienated struggle against IBA and had made same categorical statement promising no 11th settlement without Pension Revisions. Pensioners were in past and at present are being made emotional fools. They supported officers alienated struggles and even today look optimistically to see dawn in pension revision.
9. Well, we may congratulate you for your new honor of navratna. Shahnshah Akbar while degrading you and upgrading himself declared himself as Shahnshah and you all as darbaris, means navratna. Equality ended. We don't see any reason for you to be delighted of your new title, because Shahnshah hasn't bestowed it out if his pleasure, but in disgust.
10. Dear Shahnshah & Darbaries, don't you feel that your game is over, means badly exposed from all side. You all are in "The Emperor's New Clothes" and we need not to tell the name of author or describe story.
11. Bank men take you mentally and heartily dead, covered in white clothes. Only strange: you all are moving, eating, drinking, travelling and enjoying both the world. We can't say even: you are least ashamed. Enjoy, Bank men are fool, maintain you looking in you 'Supermen alias Shaktiman', the saviors.
12. Despite Govt directive to start next wage revision talks in Jan.2016 you all maintained stoic silent. Bankers maintained silent, despite 4 reminders. But, Bankers did it under their strategies. Bankers were aware that Banks would start running in bad weather in FY end March/2016 that would continue aggravating in next few FYs. Starting wage revision talks at later stage would provide them better platform. Looking to emerging facts and situations, they proved to be right. They widened their mouth by 2%.
Will you please tell your strategy to remain silent?
Bank men know well your strategy of greed. In your art of scheme if settlement would have commenced early, it was likely to be concluded by Oct. 2017 or early 2018. In such event, there wont be any arrears and if no arrears, then no chance of levy. Your levies are based on gross arrears. Longer delay in settlement would result in greater amount of arrears and greater amount of arrears would mean greater harvest of levies. Under this your greed, settlement processes have been hampered. First you gave just points and after many months you gave some details of your Demands. You never quantify your demand in percentage terms any time before 13th January, 2020. Great. On 10th Jan.2020 we wrote you a mail to demand minimum 25% wage rise. In 13th Jan.2020 talks first time you quantity your demand as 20% and in 30.1.2020 meeting, just after 17 days, you break down to 15%, thinking that something unachievable, but converted by IBA. We think, above averments are totally based on facts and your own narratives.
13. You are seem to be very fond of tukde-tukde, whether it is wages, allowances or nation. On tukde-tukde gang tunning you twist your waiste. Now you are advocating for pension revision in tukde-tukde. Whatever IBA says, you become loudspeaker. When will you change your this habit? You all were found roaming & propagating that pension revision was not possible. When questioned why, then you spread baseless cost figure of 95000 crore. When it was punctured, then you all in meek voice have started saying some thing can be in tukde-tukde. Stop this propagation. Pension revision is not bounty. It's right.
14. For you, if no work, then nonsense, no shame at all. One of you wrote a letter for one month's pension advance. In other letter asked for one day's leave encashment to donate to PM Relief Fund. Prime Minister has not made any such appeal for donation. Bank men are doing service to people as per call of the hours, by putting themselves in risk. When ever PM calls, entire nation shall respond and bank men too. When pensioners were in financial difficulties in meeting cost of health premium and borrowing from Banks on interest basis, why no such letter was written to IBA? Now, for what he is buttering PM?
In the history of bank employees movement such a thriller, horrorsome, action packed full of suspicions, conspiracies packed drama has never been seen or staged. Curtain is still not dropped or show ended. Only God knows as to what's in backstage. Bank men anxiously await the end and ring down of the curtain.
(J. N. Shukla)
National convenor,
26.3.2020
9559748834
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