Already I have posted one article written by Com. G.V. Manimaran in my facebook/blog.

on January 7. After I read the news of his opting out from Negotiating committee,

I visited his facebook account.

I happened to read one article which covers all the subjects of banking service conditions
Which every young employee and Officers should read and understand before commending.

Since he belong to Officers Association , he is more concerned about officers service conditions.
but all clerks should also read it for updating your understandings.

One may not accept 100% of his writings but definitely it is subject for discussion,
(I have edited his article with sub titles and made it to several paragraphs for easy and fast reading)

Process of Wage negations in Banks:

Regarding wage revision, since so many confusions are going on I have decided to attempt
to bring it to the knowledge of our cadres as much information as possible.

Current wage revision is tenth one in row and nine settlements were already completed
through the negotiations between trade unions and the Management as the the sector is
conducting its activities under companies act and three stake are involved
viz., Management, workforce and share holders unlike the Govt. Set up.

In the Govt. setup the entire salary package is announced unilaterally and the entire salary package is uniform to all irrespective of the performance & productivity of the department and the total emoluments is announced without giving scope for giving any thing outside the purview of the wage revision.

But, in the banking sector, every five years wage is settled through a negotiation process
and important ingredients of wage like Basic pay, DA, HRA, CCA and pension related issues are settled in the industry, leaving the scope for settling various perks and benefits outside the purview of the wage settlement by the individual banks.

Unions Role:

During 1999 the IBA wanted to divide the PSBs in to strong banks and weak banks and accordingly to fix the salary and there was a danger of fixing least salary or to close the banks viz. Indian Bank, UCO Bank and United Bank of India. There was a compulsion on the workforce to unite and fight for equal wages to all Bank men and women irrespective of the size and business. So, the UFBU was formed to unite all the workforce in the banking sector irrespective of the cadre.

It was a success story that in order to equal the salary for the brethren working in the weak banks, the workforce in the strong banks sacrificed and established the equal wages for all the Bank men and women, but for that I could not imagine the working condition of the youths joined in such small and so branded weak banks.
Even after that, these three banks did not give the enhancement immediately when other banks released the increase. It was the job of the trade unions ensured that the salary was disbursed in those banks too.

It was an another success story that it was not the management but the trade unions of these weak banks united and by their continuous dedication, these weak & loss making banks also became profit making banks.

Recruitment and promotion pattern followed in the banking sector till 2011 was as follows: 
a. The clerks were recruited in big number with matriculate qualification and the emoluments were fixed accordingly.

b. More than 80% of the officers were promoted from the clerical cadre and 20% of the officers only were recruited directly from the market as per the agreement with employees organisations.

Now only the Khandelwal committee recommended 50% direct recruitment which is yet to be adopted by the banks for implementation. c. But, It was due to the pressure mounted by the Officers organisations, the banks started recruiting officers directly in a big way from 2009 defying the existing understanding with the trade unions of employees and of course that in the interest of the industry & officers, they also did not object.

It has paved the way for recruiting huge number of Indian youths join in the bank as officers directly. In view of the officers' recruitment policy the youths spread over the country could join in the banks as officers irrespective of their domicile and the concentration of branches.
Had it been clerks, many youths could not have joined in the banks,
as the clerks are recruited state wise.

Present Demands:

In view of the huge number of direct recruited officers, AIBOC has demanded a shift from the usual method of offering the salary to officers relating it to clerical wages till nine settlements and instead, demanded the salary to officers matching to the RISK, RESPONSIBILITY, MOBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY.
In view of the change in promotion policy which expects the officers to hold higher responsibilities in short intervals without much exposure and experience, as a measure to ensure the job security and insulate the officers from the possible onslaught, an ACCOUNTABILITY POLICY was demanded.
To give the value to life REGULATED WORKING HOURS AND FIVE DAY BANKING were also demanded.
In view of the huge number of women officers recruited after 2009 a separate chapter demanding some special privileges to the women officers was annexed with the charter of demands.

Discussions are still on and Negotiations are going on but the IBA is denying our legitimate and genuine demand of adequate compensation on the ground that all the banks are not having paying capacity.

If the IBA claims that the bank officers are ineligible to get wage increase , our style of fight would be different, whereas, since the IBA denies the wage revision on the ground of paying capacity, we may have to wage our fight by placing the data to establish that the banks are having paying capacity.

To support our argument, I have written many times in my earlier communication which goes as follows:

Total Income of public sector Banks has gone up from Rs.315554 crores during 2008-09 to Rs.611658 crore during 2012-13.

B. The operating profit increased from Rs.45495 crores during 2008-09 to Rs.121917 crores during 2012-13.

C. The average establishment expenses to Total expenses are hovering around 13.80% only.

D. There is a provision for standard assets at 0.40% works to out to Rs.20749 crores for the year 2013-14 which is the hidden profit of the Banks which need to be added with net profit.

E. Pension corpus of all Nationalised banks and associate banks as on 31 03 2014 stands at Rs.113546.62 crores and its interest earnings is about Rs.8556.93 crores against the pension outgo of about Rs.7235.18 crores leaving a surplus of Rs.1321.75 crores for the same period in spite of shortfall in contribution by about eight banks and despite the average yield works out to lesser than 8.40%

Additional cost due to improvement in pay & pension,100% DA neutralisation and increase in family pension cannot be more than 25% of the present pension outflow of Rs.7235.18 crores which amounts to Rs.1800 crores approximately.

In the backdrop that the pensioners would come down as it is a close ended scheme which did not allow anybody to join after 2010 and there was no mass recruitment after 2000, a question arises in the minds of every pensioner what the Banks wish to do with this huge fund become surplus likely after 2045 which is the contribution every serving and retired prior to 2010

Thus banks are having enough paying capacity.

Friends,

If the charter of demands are faulty. - trade unions can be blamed

If they signed the lesser offer. - trade unions can be blamed

When the charter of demand is good and the trade unions without signing looking at the members to on agitation on the indifferent attitude on the wage settlement " is it not reasonable to turn your ire on the IBA instead on the trade unions?"

For New Officers recruited after 2009:

It became fashion to write all bad about the trade unions and even to advise to resign from the trade unions.

Dear officers members, when the TCS and other software sectors are planning to form trade unions as the officers of this industry are shown door under the new jargon " INVOLUNTARY RETIREMENT" at the age of 40 years, few in the Industry are demanding to windup the strong and organised trade unions setup in the banking sector.

In the absence of trade unions king fisher employees are in street today.

Absence of trade unions has driven young Spice jet employees became jobless ant at the mercy of new management whether they would reemploy the affected workforce.

Multinational companies arwho are now welcome to India for Investment in the name of job creation are not an exception in driving the Indian youths jobless.

Recent example is Nokia that even after the take over by multinational company Microsoft, 5000 young Indian Engineers were asked to get out which would not have been possible, had there been a trade union.

Is it not possible for Bill Gates who talks about Philanthropic activity worth of Billion dollars to redeploy the retrenched employees in some part of the world?

Followed by Foxconn retrenched 10000 youngsters are added to the jobless cadres. It would not have been allowed to happen, had there been a trade union.

What the Govt. is doing who have allotted vast stretch of land to these multinational companies and offered all kinds of assistance to such companies?

Why these so called messiahs are not talking about the job security available today for the bank employees which is due to the presence of trade unions in Banks.

On Bi-partite and Pay commission:

Few of our friends are arguing that if the CPC is introduced bankers will get RS. 60000 initial basic from the present RS.14500/-

I am not certainly averse to get RS.60000 as initial basic pay but I have got some basic doubts on this tall claim.

I will list out my genuine doubts and if somebody could clarify these doubts I would be grateful to them.

Central pay commission is a statutory body appointed by the Govt. for giving their recommendations on the salary and perks to be given to central govt. Employees.

The govt. Administration has got two stake holders, the govt. and it's employees and the enhancement in salary is given to the accepted level of the CPC recommendation
from out of the budgetary allocation irrespective of whether the budget is deficit or surplus.

CPC does not negotiate with any trade unions but submitting its recommendations directly to the Govt. to take decision on the implementation.
Any anomaly observed in future days shall have to be discussed with the Govt. only or to approach the court and the commission does not have any role.

Even the 100 percent owned central govt. corporations are not bound by the CPC recommendations and it depends upon the individual company's decision.
Even it does not bind the state govt. and is left to the independent state's decision.

The public sector undertakings are governed under company's act and have three stake holders are involved viz., Administrators, Shareholders and employees and thus we have to negotiate with the the body of administrators – IBA

The employees are governed under Industrial Disputes act and thus straightaway they are entering in to agreements whereas the officers are entering in to an MOU with IBA which has to be passed by the respective boards wherein the representatives of the various stakeholders are present including share holders directors.
The decision of the board has to be passed in the Annual general body meeting of the respective institutions which is attended by the General public- share holders which is not the compulsion in case of Govt. employees.

Now let us compare other differences between CPC and our wage revision process.

Salary revision through CPC happens once in ten years whereas our wage revision takes place once in five years.
Govt.setup divides it's workforce in to three categories as A,B and C and they recruit directly to all the three categories.
Thus their A and B grade officers like IAS and state level civil service officers at young age are getting higher emoluments but there is no opportunity for their C grade workforce to reach the top cadre of A and B.
Whereas in the banks the recruitments are taking place only at the bottom levels as the entry level in banks is either clerks or officers in scale 1 and at times scale 2 in an insignificant number and these cadres are only reaching the level of even C&MD in the Banks.

While extending uniform wages in the govt. Set up, they follow the procedure of seniority strictly in promotions and many are retiring in the same cadre of their recruitment.

Salary revision through CPC does not envisage any increase in the salary outside the purview of the pay commission and irrespective of the performance of the individual department, all the employees are getting the equal wages.
Whereas in the banking sector many benefits are given by the individual banks outside the purview of the wage settlement like
even up to 90% of basic as rental ceiling,
conveyance allowance,
packing allowance,
cleaning allowance,
loans like Housing loans, car loans at concessional rates even after retirement
and such revisions are witnessed once in three years depending upon the profitability of the individual banks and the strength of the trade unions in the respective banks.

Increase in DA is automatically available to the bankers at 100 percent neutralisation once in three months whereas in case of Govt. Employees, every time the govt. has to take decision in the cabinet committee and make an announcement.

My doubts are

Whether it is legally possible to get central pay commission as we are carrying our activities as per the provisions of Companies act.
And what will be the position when the Govt. reduces its stake to 52%. ?
If at all feasible, whether the Govt. can take a policy of implementing CPC to Banks alone or it has to be implemented for the entire PSUs?
If so, whether all PSUs have expressed their willingness to adopt CPC?
Whether the Govt. hinted that they would accept and if yes, what would happen to their policy announcement of privatisation of public sector undertakings?
Are we basically agreeable for 10 years wage settlement instead of once in five years?
How our position in the banks will be synchronised with three cadres in the Govt. Setup. If scale I to be matched to A grade in the central Govt., what about our top level of CMD, ED AND GMs?
Are we ready to accept the uniform wages without any perks and benefits outside the purview of the wage settlement as it is happening in the central Govt.?
Are we ready for the uniform benefits to all the banks irrespective of the size and profitability?
If a loss hypothetically, whether our demand is to support the salary from out of the budgetary allocation and if yes, how such infusions by the Govt. will be treated in our books of accounts?
Are we ready for uncertain DA instead of 100% DA neutralisation automatically credited in the salary every three months?
Unlike in the Govt. setup, in the banking setup mobility all over the country and accountability more on financial grounds are the features and if the bilateralism is given up in the wage revision, who will handle the other issues?
Are we agreeing for the recruitment in every scale and promotion on seniority?

If the CPC is demanded at this juncture and what we are up to?

Are we demanding that our existing emoluments to be given as 6th pay commission and will be waiting for some more years to get under 7th pay commission?
If so, what is our demand towards matching the grades and basics and are we going to tell them to give up various benefits being enjoyed outside the purview of the wage settlement like the loans under concessional rate of interest etc.,

Above all,

When the IBA does not accept our genuine demand of Rs. 29000 as initial basic as they are claiming that they don't have the paying capacity, from which source they would give Rs. 60000 as initial basic when it is claimed under CPC?

When the bank has got such paying capacity to give Rs.60000 basic, why we can't demand under the existing set up itself?

On Social media  discussions:

Instead of responding to my doubts which I posted in the social sites, there was an attempt to abuse which led me to have the following doubts:

Why these sites are blaming the trade unions alone and not even ready to utter a word against the Masters?
Why when somebody comes forward to raise apprehensions against the misleading suggestions in the site, he is immediately abused by the few and being removed from the group by the Administrator?
When the banks became operational under Banking regulations act, the functions are under the provisions of the Companies act, Govt. is only enjoying the status of a shareholder and the Hon'ble Finance Minister openly declared that he would reduce the Govt. holding to 52%, whether the argument of wage revision through Govt. model would be legally tenable and possible?
Whether they submitted such alternate model to the Govt. as in their alternate model IBA don't have any role and if so, what is the Govt. response? If not, why you are not criticising the Govt. for their inaction on your demands?
Why these so called sympathisers are not taking part in any of the agitation program which is staged for attracting the attention of the Govt. towards the fighting employees
but attending office keeping the branches open?
Whether to save their one day salary or to prove their loyalty to the masters by sabotaging the trade union call?
Neither they act nor they support but how these dark room activists of FB and what'sup are going to achieve their goal?
Is it not their assigned goal to finish the organised trade unions in the banking sector to facilitate the Govt. to reduce the govt. stake and ultimately to privatise the Indian banks to finish the fortune of Indian Youths?

Call to youths:

COME ON YOUTHS

I am in total agreement with you that our compensation is not in commensuration with our contribution to the institution.
Our fight is for SALARY, SECURITY and. job SATISFACTION.

But in the war field we must be careful with foes in the guise of pals.

There is an attempt to sabotage the only organised trade union in the banking sector to handover the only cash rich remunerative sector to the private hands.

Trade unions are the protective layer on the innocent employees suffering in the hands of exploiting employers and some agents will try to expose the employees to be exploited.

Identify them and avoid them. Their idea is to dilute the issue by diverting our attention.

If you feel ineffective, eject the leaders but not the trade unions.

It is the time to come forward and take the active role to protect every one of us.

One day is left,

let us encourage and motivate our leaders to go ahead with four days strike action which will be the only way to show our unity and strength to both the Govt. and the ugly heads attempting to sabotage the trade union movement.

Mobilise all the cadres irrespective of the affiliations to communicate their respective leaders to go ahead with agitation.

Yours

Manimaran G V

GENERAL SECRETARY