See what IBA offers to bank staff in today meeting

Apex banking lobby Indian Banks Association (IBA) today offered to increase the wages of over three dozen bank employees by six percent, compared with the two percent hike offered earlier, bank unions said today. 

However, unions, under the banner of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), rejected the offer again, but said they are open for further negotiations. 

"IBA improved the offer from two percent to six percent. UFBU has rejected the offer but have agreed to continue to negotiate," UFBU convener for Maharashtra, Devidas Tuljapurkar, said after the 13th round of wage negotiations with IBA today.  He said bank unions are demanding a 25 percent hike and the IBA has agreed to have fresh discussions on the issue by the end of August. 

Close to 37 banks, including public, private and foreign banks, have mandated the IBA to decide on wage hikes for their employees. The current wage revision is due from November 2017, after the 10th Bipartite Settlement ended in October 2017. 

In the 10th Bipartite wage settlement, which was signed in May 2015, for the period between November 2012 and October 2017, the IBA had offered a 15 percent hike. 

In the May 5 round of negotiations, the IBA had offered a meagre 2 percent wage hike. Banks unions did not accept the offer and went on a two-day strike starting May 30. Banks' management had justified the nominal hike citing huge losses incurred by in the past few quarters. 

However, bank unions said the fall in profit are on account of higher provisioning towards non-performing assets and the employees are not responsible for that. They also said that employees have been tirelessly working towards implementing various government schemes such as Jan Dhan, demonetisation, Mudra and Atal Pension Yojana, among others. 

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Bank Wage Revision- Latest Circular by Banks Unions

                                                             Click on right corner of PDF to view large

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Bank, insurance unions threaten strike during Parliament’s winter session

The Co-ordination Committee of Bank, Insurance and Finance Sector Unions (CCBIFU) on Saturday said a would be called during the winter session of the Parliament if the government does not revise its policies on banking and insurance sectors.

“If the government does not revise its policies on banking and insurance sector and would continue with their existing policies, the CCBIFU will decide to go on a strike during the winter session of the Parliament in December, 2018,” Committee Chairman C.H. Venkatachalam said in a statement.
The Committee was formed to protest against what are termed as attacks on the banking and insurance sectors like foreign direct investment (FDI), disinvestment and other sectoral reforms.

The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), General Insurance Employees All India Association (GIEAIA) and All India LIC Employees Federation (AILICEF) constitute the commitee.
While Venkatachalam, the General Secretary of AIBEA, is the Committee’s Chairman, K. Govindan, General Secretary of the GIEAIA is the Convener.
According to Venkatachalam, banks represent hard earned savings of the common people.

“Today it is more than Rs 115 lakh crore. If banks are privatised, the people’s money will be in the hands of the capitalists. The only problem in the banks is the huge bad loans due from the corporate borrowers,” he said.
“Instead of taking action to recover the bad loans, banks are sought to be handed over to them. In LIC also there are huge bad investments which are non-performing. There must be a thorough parliamentary probe into all these investments,” he added.

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Conciliation failed – 30 & 31 May 2018 all India Bank Strike Stands

On Bank Unions 2 days strike notice Chief Labour Commissioner(CLC) called conciliation meeting to avoid 2 days proposed all India Bank Strike. Since Indian Banks Association (IBA) has not given any revised offer for wage revision United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has decided to proceed for 2 days all India Bank Strike on 30th and 31st May, 2018 for the demand of early wage revision and against the 2% offer of wage hike given by Indian Bank Association (IBA).

Bank employees wage revision is due w.e.f. 1.11.2017. A charter of demand was submitted by Unions in the month of July 2017.

Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India was very much interested to give wage revision w.e.f. 1.11.2017 itself and written 2 letters to IBA for early wage revision. But IBA late started the negotiations and in 10 rounds of meetings only management issues and non financial issues were discussed. On 5th May 2018 meeting IBA offered 2% hike which was rejected by Unions and decided to go for 2 days all India Bank Strike on 30th and 31st 2018.

Why at the time of bank employees wage revision question of Profitability comes.

UFBU demands that Govt should advice the IBA to give respectable and justified wage revision as early as possible to avoid 2 days proposed all India Bank Strike.

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PSU bank unions threaten to go on strike on May 30-31 against proposed 2% wage hike

Over 10 lakh bankers in government and private banks will go on a 48-hour strike starting on May 30, an All India Bank Employees Association leader said.

The United Forum of Bank Unions proposed the strike beginning 6am on May 30, till 6am on June 1, demanding early revision of wages. The wage revision has been due since November 1, 2017.

"The strike notice has been served to Indian Banks Association representing the bank management and the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central), New Delhi," C H Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA, told IANS.

The UFBU is an umbrella body of nine unions in the banking sector representing staff and officers. Wage revision talks between UFBU and IBA held in Mumbai on May 5 had ended in a failure.

Mr Venkatachalam said the IBA offered an increase of 2 per cent over the total wage bill of the banks as on March 31, 2017.

In the last 10th Bipartite Wage Settlement that was made effective from November 1, 2012, the IBA had agreed to a hike of 15 per cent over the total wage bill.

The unions had rejected the IBA offer, Mr Venkatachalam said.

While the government had asked the IBA to conclude the wage revision settlement before November 1, 2017, the latter has been delaying, he said.

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UFBU's call for massive demonstrations

UFBU call to hold massive demonstrations before all bank branches in all over the country.
Centralised demonstrations in major cities and towns on 8th and 9th May,2018.

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Wage revision talks fail, bank unions threaten strike

Bank employees’ unions have rejected the 2% salary hike offer made by Indian Banks Association (IBA) and threatened to go on strike to press their demand.

Wage revision for Bank employees are due from 1 November 2017.

The initial offer of the IBA was meagre 2%, which was totally rejected by the constituents of the United Forum of Bank Unions, AIBOC general secretary D.T. Franco said in a statement.

UFBU comprises of 9 employees and officers union.

In the meeting held today IBA’s unjust offer of 2% was rejected by United Forum of Bank Unions, National Organisation of Bank Worker’s vice president Ashwani Rana said.

In the last wage revision IBA provided an increment of 15%. It has decided to send a detailed communication to the government immediately followed by a nationwide demonstration on 9 May 2018, All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) said.

It was also decided that unions will go for two-days strike if the government or IBA does not respond immediately, it said.

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Bank unions to organise dharna in Delhi

The United Forum of Bank Unions today said it would organise a "massive" dharna in Delhi on March 21 in support of its demands. 

UFBU's Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state units alleged that an orchestrated campaign has been unleashed against public sector bank employees and the banks after the PNB issue came to light. 

The demands include taking tough action against loan defaulters and stopping alleged harassment of bank staff following the recent PNB scam. 

"Subsequent to the recent fraud in Punjab National Bank, an orchestrated propaganda is being unleashed against all the bank employees, and the functioning of PSBs is being projected in poor light," VVSR Sarma, convener of the UFBU AP and Telangana State Units, told reporters here. 

He alleged that suggestions towards privatisation of PSBs are being made in some quarters without acknowledging the pivotal role played by the PSU banks in the country's growth since banks' nationalisation in 1969. 

"It is also a known fact that those corporate and industrial houses which are responsible for the huge bad debts in PSBs are freely suggesting privatisation of PSBs," he said. 

UFBU has been demanding strict action against loan defaulters, Sarma said. 

"The UFBU demands that tough action be taken against all those involved, connected and responsible for the fraud in Punjab National Bank," he said. 

"Do not single out lower level staff. Avoid harassment of employees and officers by mass transfers," he said. 

In addition to the dharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, UFBU would also conduct a mass signature campaign and the signatures would be sent to the Lok Sabha Speaker in April, Sarma added. 

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Bank Union Writes To Finance Minister Against Privatisation of PSU Banks

Criticising the demand for privatising state-run banks in the wake of the Rs.12,600 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, a bank employees' body has written to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that such a move would be "counterproductive".

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Bank union coming down to field movement against FRDI

With the clamour over proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill climbing higher in the decibel scale, while major employees associations in banking sector have started opposing it, the conglomeration of officers associations has also entered into the arena. They may even go on strike to oppose the bill. 

"We are considering the issue too seriously and determined to oppose the bill. Our opposition may even take the shape of nationwide strike if our apex organization United Federation of Bank Unions gives a call for that," said Soumya Dutta, National Joint General Secretary of All India Bank Officers Confederation and General Secretary of State Bank of India Officers Association(SBIOA), Bengal Circle. 

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Bank unions seek wage hike settlement by December-end

Bank unions are demanding wage hike settlement for around 850,000 employees of public sector banks to be expedited by December-end, a deadline which is unlikely to be met as discussions on the core issue of the extent of hike is yet to start.

“There are too many moving parts and capital is a major constraint. Now with the recapitalisation announcement, each bank will plan for growth and subsequently the expenses, depending on the amount of funds it get. Lenders will then give proposal to IBA, who will negotiate with unions. This exercise will take at least a month or two,” said a senior banker aware of the talks, on condition of anonymity.

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CHARTER OF DEMANDS FOR 11TH BIPARTITE SETTLEMENT by UFBU IN SUMMARY

ALL INDIA BANK EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION ( AIBEA)

NATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF BANK EMPLOYEES (NCBE)

BANK EMPLOYEES FEDERATION OF INDIA (BEFI)

INDIAN NATIONAL BANK EMPLOYEES FEDRATON (INBEF)

NATIONAL ORGANISATION OF BANK WORKERS (NOBW)

2-2017

To

Chairman,

Indian Banks’ Association

Mumbai

Dear Sir,

You are aware that the period of the current 10th Bipartite Settlement would come to end by October, 2017 and a revised Settlement needs to be arrived at w.e.f. 1-11-2017.  We learn that the Government has given their guidelines to IBA and Banks to complete the process of negotiations well in time to commence the new Settlement from November, 2017.

We welcome this but this would be possible only if the negotiations are commenced by IBA well in time.  In view of this, we submit herein the broad summary of the common demands to be negotiated and to arrive at the 11th Bipartite Settlement. (Annexure I)

The full details of all these demands would be submitted shortly and well before the negotiations would begin. 

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Demonetisation Rush at Banks has Cashiers 'Weeping', Say Bank Unions

The massive rush at bank branches to exchange scrapped currency notes post the demonetization drive has cashiers “weeping” as they end up paying from their own pockets for mistakes committed out of “high level of stress,” bank employee association leaders told.

Every employee in a bank these days is a cashier, Sharma said, pointing out that the role of a cashier is one which demands a certain level of expertise.

“But fearing angry customers, employees from peon to a manager are working as cashiers, and they often make mistakes while dealing with the crowd which leads to their own financial loss,” Sharma said.

According to RBI, various banks across the country has received Rs 5,44,571 crore in deposits and old notes submitted for exchange from the time banks reopened after currency demonetisation till November 18, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said. This includes deposits of Rs 5,11,565 crore and exchanged currency notes of Rs 33,006 crore.

CH Venkatachalam, General Secretary of the All India Bank Employees Association, claimed he has received thousands of complaints from banking staff across the country post the demonetisation announcement.

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Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI)

Bank Employees of our country need not be told who comrade Naresh Paul was, for, they irrespective of their organizational allegiance looked upon him as their friend, philosopher and guide - the pioneer who was the inspiration behind the bank employees' movement.

Born on 1st March 1918

and a graduate in academic qualification, Naresh Paul joined the services of Central Bank of India in 1941 but lost his job in 1949 for leading a strike struggle by the nascent trade union there. From then onward, instead of trying to get back his job or to be employed elsewhere, he spent his entire life as a bachelor devoted to the task of building up a militant all India union of the bank employees. It was through his efforts that the first national level organization of the bank employees, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), came into being.

Always unmindful of what position he held in the organnization, Com. Naresh Paul's only thought was how best he could serve the interest of employees and how bank employees movement could be developed into a part and parcel of the working class movement.

The very simply clad Comrade Naresh Paul passed away on 30th October 2000, but his name still draws the same regard and respect from one and all. We are particularly proud of the fact that he was the founder President of Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI).

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Unions, employees oppose merger of 27 public sector banks into six

The consolidation exercise among public sector banks may not be an easy one with unions and employees voicing their concerns.

Barely two days since finance minister Arun Jaitley announced the proposal to have “strong banks rather than numerically large numbers,” unions have t

heartened to resort to strikes if the process is kicked off. According to unions, if the government’s plan was to avoid “large number” of banks, why did it issue licences to companies to set up payments and small finance banks?

The consolidation exercise could bring down the number of public sector banks to about six from the current 27, banking sources had earlier told HT.

Issues such as mergers of weak banks, chalking out a career path for the chairmen of the merged banks, cultural fitment of lenders will also have to be dealt with, analysts said, even though the government seemed confident of the merger exercise.

Addressing a press conference at the conclusion of the second edition of the Gyan Sangam — a two-day offsite for public sector banks and financial institutions — on Saturday, Jaitley had said that consolidation in the banking sector was discussed at the meeting, and bankers themselves have suggested that an expert group should be set up soon to look into the issue. The panel will closely work with the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) to identify the right matches for consolidation. The BBB is set to be put in place by April 1, 2016.

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All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC)

VISION

AIBOC is a value based Trade Union, committed to consolidation of Bank Officers’ Movement and the entire Managerial Staff in India and abroad. It is against Exploitation, Victimization and Attacks on the Working Class. Through Dedicated Service and Struggle, it upholds the Dignity, Self esteem, Professional competence of its Members to seek Fair, Equitable Compensation and Service Conditions.
AIBOC is Politically not affiliated, Self Reliant, Internally Led, Independent Trade Union upholding Democratic values and involving itself in socially relevant issues. It is committed to National Unity, National Interest and the Public Sector. 

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All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA)

       All India Bank Employees Association, the oldest and largest national TRADE union center of bank employees in India, was founded in 1946 on the 20th of April in Kolkata. They were being paid paltry wages with no regulated service conditions at all. It was a rule of hire and fire. Bank employees were groaning but did not have the necessary courage to form unions. They saw the workers in the factories fighting and making some progress in terms of wages and betterment in service conditions. Bank employees also gathered some courage here and there and started to organise themselves into unions in a sporadic way. Some protest actions and strikes were undertaken but the disputes were referred to tribunals and employees did not get justice or satisfaction.

     Hence unrest and dissatisfaction amongst the employees were brewing and many Unions were formed during the period. With the advent of AIBEA on the scene, this gave a fillip to the formation of unions in different banks. With the formation of the Unions, there were innumerable agitations, struggles and strikes in the banks. Banking was a State subject at that time and hence there were number of Tribunals and Awards. The growing discontentment amongst the bank employees was sensed by the management and the authorities and banking was made a central subject.

      Consequently, there were All India tribunals. The unduly long periods of awaiting, the unsatisfactory awards and the bias of the authorities made the AIBEA in 1964 to demand direct bilateral negotiations and settlement. AIBEA succeeded in this effort when in 1966 the first ever industry level Bipartite Settlement was signed between the AIBEA and the bank management's across the table. Today this bilateral agreement constitutes a landmark achievement in the banking industry and 7 Bipartite Settlements have been signed so far by the AIBEA.

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ALL INDIA BANK OFFICERS' ASSOCIATION (AIBOA)

AIBOA - HISTORY AND CHALLENGING PERSPECTIVES

In its chequered history of many battles through sacrifices by countless warriors,
AIBEA never compromised or gave up even momentarily its objective of rendering lead and initiatives to every section of Bank employees. It is a point of history that from Bank level to the Pillai committee AIBEA not only represented officers' case logically but also offered its hand of co-operation to government and Bankers to run the Industry effectively realising the need for co-ordinating officers and employees in a service Industry like Banking for realisation of common objectives of nationalisation of the Industry transparency of operations, focus for credit to needy sector and so on and so forth and from these tasks the need for consolidation of the interwined movement from all sides was practiced as an objective from the early day of AIBEA. AIBOA is the legacy of this mighty AIBEA.

AIBOA took it birth from the conscious decision of Baroda General Council of AIBEA in 1979. A new direction to Bank employees movement was enjoined on it, due very much to nationalisation of Banks the task was given for implementation in all Banks and States. Eventhough it is a fact that many stalwarts of AIBEA in yester years like Com.Romesh Chakraborti, Com.K.K.Mundal, Com.Tarakeshwar, com.P.L.Syal, Com.V.K.,Krishnamoorthy, Com.P.K.Porwal, Com.A.Sundar Rao Com.H.N.Puri, Com.Roshan Lal Malhotra and the legendanary figure Com.H.L.Parwana were themselves officers and executives, who were one of those who founded AIBEA and contributed to its growth and consolidation. It is a fact that the decision to form AIBOA took a colossal time of 10 years after nationalisation and a far fetched national debate of very slow and negative dimensions which delayed the process of AIBOA formation.

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