The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Bank employees to go on two-day strike

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Monday, Feb 25, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Bank employees to go on two-day strike

Bangalore Bureau

Work in public sector banks expected to be ‘totally hit’

The UFBU, which represents nine bank unions, has raised six demands
About 1.3 lakh employees are expected
to participate in the strike

Bangalore: Normal functioning of banks, particularly public sector banks, is likely to be severely affected by the two-day strike of bank staff, employees and officers. The striking employees will hold a demonstration at 10.30 a.m. in front of the State Bank of India office on St. Marks Road on February 25, and in front of the head office of the State Bank of Mysore on February 26. The strike action, initiated by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), the umbrella body representing nine bank unions in the country, follows the failure of talks with the Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, the Chief Labour Commissioner S.K. Mukhopadhyay and the UFBU leadership on February 23.

The UFBU had raised a set of six demands. It is opposing the merger of public sector banks, especially the proposed merger of the associate and subsidiary banks of the State Bank Group with the parent bank.

The UFBU had also demanded that the virtual freeze on recruitment be lifted. Union sources said that in the five years since the Eighth Bipartite settlement, banks’ business had "more than doubled". However, the number of employees in the banking sector had fallen from 9.7 lakhs to 9.2 lakhs in this period. B.S. Ravindra, convener of the UFBU in Karnataka, and the secretary of the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), said, “In the last 20 years there has been virtually no recruitment. The age profile of officers in banks had increased to about 50, from about 35 ten years ago," he said.

No to outsourcing

Mr. Ravindra explained that UFBU’s other major demand of stopping the "mindless recourse to outsourcing" is linked to the issue of the freeze in recruitment. Union sources said that although the Indian Bank Association (IBA) had agreed to outsource only those activities where in-house talent was not available in banks, bank managements were violating the agreement by outsourcing work of "non-specialised nature" to external agencies.

The All India State Bank Officers’ Federation will also go on strike. According to its General Secretary G.D. Nadaf, the IBA did not appear to meet their demands even though the Finance Minister had directed them to the IBA.

Pension scheme

The unions are also demanding that they be given "one more chance" to opt for the pension scheme. H. Vasant Rai, General Secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Bank Employees’ Union, affiliated to the All India Bank Employees Federation (AIBEA), said in 1993, bank employees were given the option of either opting for a pension or Provident Fund. Since the interest rate being paid on employees’ savings in the PF scheme had declined substantially, pensions had become more attractive.

The other demands include the lifting of the ban on appointments on compassionate grounds and the demand that the IBA commence negotiations for a wage revision.

Mr. Vishwanath Naik, General Secretary of the All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA) said, "The mood is upbeat among workers and officers alike." He claimed that the “overwhelming majority” of 1.3 lakh employees — about 30,000 officers and one lakh staff and workers — were likely to participate in the strike.

He expected that work in the public sector and old-generation private banks would be "totally hit". He said the new-generation private banks may not be hit as badly because most workers in these banks are employed on contractual basis, and are therefore not unionised.

The unions have decided to go on an indefinite strike from March 24. The All India Bank Sub-employees Union General Secretary A. Raju, in a press release, has said that nearly 70,000 members belonging to his union will not join the strike.

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