Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 12:33 PM
10 lacs employees observed All India Strike
Ludhiana: 11 Feb 2014: (Rector Kathuria//Punjab Screen//Satpal Soni):
At the call of United Forum of Bank
Unions comprising of 9 bank trade unions, (
AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE, AIBOA, BEFI, INBEF, INBOC, NOBW, NOBO) 10 lacs bank employees and officers working
in public sector banks, old generation private banks, Regional Rural Banks,
workmen employees of foreign Banks observed All India Strike on 10th
& 11th Feb. 2014 on the
following demands:
- Immediate Wage Revision for bank employees and officers
- Stop retrograde Banking Sector reform
United
Forum of Bank Unions (Unit : Ludhiana) hold a massive rally in front of Canara
Bank, Bharat Nagar Chowk, Ludhiana. Com.
Sudesh Kumar, Chairman, Punjab Bank Employees Federation, Com. Naresh Gaur, Convener, United Forum of
Bank Unions, Com. Gulshan Chauhan, Com. Rakesh Khanna, Com. Baljinder Singh,
Com. J.P.Kalra (All India Bank Officers’ Confederation), Com. D.C.Landra
(NCBE), Com. Gurbachan Singh (AIBOA),
Com. D.P.Maur General Secretary, Joint Council of Trade Unions and Dr. Rajinder Pal Aulakh, President,
Agriculture Technocrats addressed the bank employees.
Wage Revision Settlement in the
Banks is due from November, 2012. UFBU
has submitted the charter of demands in October, 2012. Indian Banks Association
(IBA) has been delaying the matter for the past one year. When prices are increasing day by day, when the
workload on the employees has gone due to steep increase in volume of business,
there is urgent need to increase the wages of the bank employees but bank
managements attitude seems to very casual.
Nachiket Mor Committee has suggested the Banks should cover all the
citizens of this country. That means
that Banks have to open another 50 crores of Accounts. This will further add to the workload on the
employees and officers. Already, we are
dealing with so many schemes of the Government which increased the volume of
work. Hence a reasonable wage revision is necessary. Hence we are demanding
immediate settlement on wage revision without any further delay. IBA has offered to increase the wages by 10%
which is very very inadequate. Hence
their offer is not acceptable. IBA is stating that profits in the Banks are not
good and hence cannot afford to give more wage revision.
Profits of the Banks are on the rise
only. Despite the unfavourable economic
scenario, Banks have been earning good profits over the years.
(Rs. In Crores – fig. of PSBs other than IDBI Bank)
|
Year
|
Gross Operative Profits
|
Net profits
|
|
2006-07
|
41,500
|
19,680
|
|
2007-08
|
48,250
|
25,862
|
|
2008-09
|
65,227
|
33,514
|
|
2009-10
|
74,220
|
38,225
|
|
2010-11
|
95,908
|
43,250
|
|
2011-12
|
1,12,290
|
47,483
|
|
2012-13
|
1,16,458
|
48,700
|
Bad Loans are increasing not because
of employees. Further managements
are claiming that bad loans are increasing and hence profits are reducing. Bad loans increase but not because of
employees. Employees should not be held responsible for the same. In the last 5 years Rs. 140,266 crores have
been provided towards bad loans from the profits. In addition, in the last 6 years, 141,294
crores of bad loans have been written off.
But when it comes to our salary revision, managements are reluctant.
Our demands are reasonable and also negotiable. UFBU would like to settle the demands through
mutual discussions. But if the Banks do
not adopt a fair approach, the employees’ resentment would have to be
ventilated through strikes only. We hope that IBA would understand our demands
and come forward to settle the demands through amicable negotiations and
finalise the settlement at the earliest. Better wages would result in better
profits. If employees are paid better
wages commensurate with the prices and their workload, it will be a great
motivation and incentive to involve better and this would lead to more
efficiency and better profits for the Banks.
Hence wage increase should be seen with a positive outlook. No Bank in India had so far collapsed or gone
into loss due to increase in wages but Banks have collapsed due to
mismanagement and bad loans. Hence our
demand for wage increase should be settled at the earliest.
Strike Total success – Total impact. To highlight these two demands, UFBU
had given the strike call. The Strike has been a total success all over the
country. Banking transactions including clearing operations were
paralysed. Bank branches remained closed. Normal banking services were disrupted. All over the country about 10 crore cheques
worth Rs. 7,40,000 crores could not be cleared. Government transactions,
foreign exchange transactions,. Money market operations, etc. were also
affected. In many places, ATMs did not
function or were dried up. Strike was
forced on us. Since IBA and Govt. did
not settle our demands, the strike has been forced on us. We are sorry that the banking public would
have been inconvenienced by this strike but that was unavoidable due to the
non-serious approach of the IBA/Government to avert the strike by improving
their offer on wage increase and discussing our concerns on the banking sector
reforms. We are ready to resolve the issues by discussions. UFBU is always open to resolve the demands by
discussions and negotiations but IBA and the Government should also be
forthcoming. If the same negative
attitude will continue, we will be left with no alternative than to further
intensify the agitation.
