Bank Strike: Bank staff threaten to intensify stir in July, August
The
United Forum of Bank Unions(UFBU) on Tuesday threatened to intensify their stir in
July and August against the 'meagre' two per cent salary hike, officials said. The bank employees had observed a two-day strike on
May 30 and 31 against the hike.
The United Federation of Bank Unions, the
umbrella organisation of nine bank unions, met here and congratulated the staff
for observing the two-day strike, general secretary of the federation CH
Venkatachalam said.
"It has been decided to further
continue the struggle with more strikes. Having regard to the need for an
amicable solution, it was decided to meet the higher authorities in the
government and the banks", he told PTI.
"However,
if no solution is forthcoming in these meetings, the United Forum of Bank
Unions will proceed and announce more agitations", he said. Meanwhile, a report from Tirupathi
quoted senior vice-president of the National Confederation of Bank Employees,
VVSR Sarma as saying that the bank staff would
intensify the stir in a phased manner in July and August to press for their
demands.
"Prior to intensifying our agitation, United Forum of Bank Unions decided
to submit a memorandum on the wage hike issue and other banking developmental
issues to finance minister Arun Jaitley by this month-end," he said.
Source- Times of India
DA increased for Bankers from Feb,2018 to Apr,2018
D.A. 527 slabs payable during the quarter February,2018 to April,2018
SBI reduces employee base by 10,500 from Apr-Sep; 5,000 more to retire by March
Country’s largest bank State Bank ofIndia (SBI) has reduced its total employee strength by 10,584
in the six months period after its merger. This is further expected to go down
by 4,876 people by the end of the year closing March 2018, as targeted by the
bank.
The staff
strength has come down to 2,69,219 staff as on September 2017 compared to
2,79,803 as on March 2017.
YES Bank cuts staff by almost 2,500, cites redundancies
Private lender YES Bank has gone in for "rationalisation" of workforce to address certain "redundancies", the company has said.
According to reports, the bank has reduced its workforce by nearly 2,500 on account of digitisation and automation.Although YES Bank did not put a specific number, it said digital transformation has created certain redundancies requiring rationalisation of workforce.
Some jobs may go missing from banks in the next few years
Remember the good old bank clerk who used to update your pass book? The fact that he is hardly seen these days explains banking industry's biggest predicament -- Automation.
On Wednesday, Vikram Pandit, who ran Citigroup during the financial crisis, endorsed this predicament with a disturbing figure. Pandit said developments in technology could see some 30 per cent of banking jobs disappearing in the next five years.
Bank staff to take out morcha to Parliament on 15th Sept., meet PM
Thousands of bank employees and officers are expected to participate in the Morcha to Parliament on Friday, said C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All-India Bank Employees’ Association.
“We propose to meet the Prime Minister and submit a memorandum to him on these issues,” Vekatachalam said. “Our demand is save banks, save economy, save nation, and save people.”
SBI PNB May Move Out From 11th Bipartite Settlement Nov 2017
Large state run lenders are seeking to break away from the system of negotiating periodic, industry wide wage settlements with the unions and decide their own pay structures.
Lenders such as State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB)
are exploring the idea of moving to a variable pay structure, which will be
based on the performance of employees.
SBI is looking to introduce an employee stock ownership plan and grading
system based on an employee’s performance, said a senior SBI official on
condition of anonymity. PNB plans to
approach its board with a proposal to introduce performance based pay for all
officials above the level of chief manager. “Today, an employee’s salary is
predictable. There is a need to recognize performance and give remuneration. We
have formed an internal committee of general managers to work on this matter
and submit the proposal to the board,” Usha Ananthasubramanian,managing
director and chief executive officer of PNB, said at an analysts’ meeting,
after the lender’s earnings announcement. Usha also added that PNB had earlier
tried to move to a variable pay structure for all employees under the
chairmanship of K.C. Chakrabarty, but failed in
its attempt.
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.
PSB staff should document reasons for decisions taken
Officials in the state-run banks should take adequate precautions to document reasons for any decision they take, chief vigilance commissioner TM Bhasin said at the Gyan Sangam on Friday.
According to bankers who attended the session, Bhasin listed out the precautions and said the documentation would help them avoid trouble if they are deviating from rules. This piece of advice comes at a time when the Economic Survey has pointed out inefficiency of a large number of vigilance officers employed by the government.
“The vigilance officer system is widely felt to be ineffective and in some cases even counter-productive. It may be time to consider whether the costs of this elaborate, but apparently ineffective, system are worthwhile,” it said.
How Central Government Staff are able to secure more benefits, as compared to Bank Staff?
Sr.
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Central Government Staff
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Bank Staff
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1
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Government Employees have a greater say in implementation of all policies
and programmes of the government. They manage the routine affairs of
the government. They only make the government visible to the common
man. They are the people who are running the government show for all
practical purposes.
Few disgruntled elements among the government employees here and there
are sufficient to bring down the popularity of an elected government.
So, no government will take the risk of displeasing them.
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Bank staff, who
are considered as the central pillar of any country's economy, have been
reduced to voiceless creatures in our country. All social welfare schemes are
dumped on them, by various governments, without giving them any choice or a
say.
They also have
made themselves cheap in the eyes of the society, by undertaking many jobs
that are remotely connected to banking. Their own managements also have
to take a major share of the blame for this situation, because they think
that in order to face stiff competition in the market and yet survive and
flourish, banks must volunteer to do many jobs, even if they are not
remunerative and result in wastage of precious human resources and loss of
money.
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2
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Government is a virtual monopoly in many fields. Moreover, the
government is in a commanding position to determine the destiny of many
sectors and their survival.
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Though banks are
also equally powerful and very important to the nation, because of intense,
unhealthy and unequal competition, the mid-sized and small banks find it
difficult to remain competitive and profit-making.
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3
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Central government employees/pensioners (48 lakh persons in service and
55 lakh pensioners) constitute a good size of the population.
|
In comparison,
bank staff in service (numbering about 10 lakhs) and another 2.50 lakh
pensionersspread over the entire country are numerically very less.
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4
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If we include
those working in state governments and central/state PSUs and also the
pensioners who are anticipated to derive benefit out of CPC, they add up to
another 2.50 crores.
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Same as above.
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