IBA terms staff unions' demand for 23% wage hike irrational

Mumbai, December 25: Indian Banks’ Association has termed the demand by the United Forum of Bank Union for a 23 per cent increase in pay as “illogical and irrational”.  “Managing Committee of IBA and the Chairmen of all the banks were unequivocal in saying that the demand of 23 per cent increase of Unions/Associations is unaffordable, illogical, exorbitant and irrational,” it said.

The banks are willing to offer a 11 per cent hike on salary and allowances which the lenders say will translate into a 12.5 per cent hike on the balance sheet cost.  The IBA said this number has been arrived at after taking into account the paying capacity of the banks, lower profitability, higher requirements for provisions and further capital requirement under Basel-III.

Earlier, All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) said a meeting of the UFBU held at Mumbai on December 17 had expressed its dissatisfaction with the delay in settling demands for wage revision.

Fourteen rounds of discussion have been held so far between the union and IBA and consensus on effective date of implementation and merger of dearness allowance have been arrived at. However, they have not been able to arrive at an agreement on wage hike yet.

The UFBU had said that it would be holding a one-day all-India strike on January 7 followed by a four-day strike across the country from January 21-24. An indefinite strike would be initiated from March 16 to achieve the demand, it had added.

On the other IBA has made an appeal to UFBU to give up the agitational path and to return to the table for further negotiations. In the meantime, IBA has also requested all member banks to assess their paying capacity and advise them accordingly.

Clerical cadre prone to higher attrition

Mangalore/Coimbatore, August 26: Banks put out impressive recruitment figures in their annual reports. But have you ever thought about the attrition rate in these banks? Shocking but true, in some cases, almost half of those who joined had left within a year.

The clerical cadre has been witnessing high attrition, especially in banks with a regional focus. Bank unions say the attrition rate is nearly 30 per cent in both the officer and clerical cadres.

D N Prakash, President of Corporation Bank Officers’ Organisation, said that the attrition level in the clerical cadre was as high as 45 per cent in a bank at one point of time.

Ask for the reasons, and you get several of them.

According to Prakash, some banks have branches only in particular geographical locations, unlike big public sector banks such as State Bank that have branches across the country. Some of the South-based banks have less presence in the northern region, but most of the new recruits in these banks are from the North. The banks find it difficult to place the new employees in States of their choice. This is one of the reasons why most of them don’t stick on for more than a year.

P R Karanth, Joint Secretary of AIBEA, says that someone who joins bank ‘A’ in the clerical cadre usually gets a good offer from bank ‘B’ in the officer cadre after two-three years. Even if the banks impose any bond during their appointment, they are ready to pay and leave.

To address this, K S Bhat, Secretary of the Syndicate Bank Staff Association, said that weightage should be given to those who work in bank ‘A’ while filling vacancies in the officer cadre.

He said a person from clerical cadre had passed IBPS with 167 marks in his bank. But the cut-off for officers’ cadre was 168 marks. But he got an officers job in bank ‘B’, where he matched the cut-off marks.

Some relaxation for the existing staff would have helped his bank to retain him. “In this process, we lost a clerical staffer and a person with two years’ experience,” he said.

Bhat said that in some States a lower division clerk in a government office gets a better salary than a bank clerk. Compared to banks, the workload and risks in some government offices are lower.

Bank staff threaten two-day strike

The All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA), which represents the employees of the public-sector banks, has threatened to go on a two-day strike from August 22, against the government’s proposed Banking Bill, closure of rural branches and other set of banking sector reforms.
In a circular to the members, C H Venkatachalam, general secretary, AIBEA, said “the attacks are increasing and the IBA/government are indifferent to our demands. Hence UFBU has given the call to revive the agitation and struggle programmes. Further, the government is also proposing to amend the banking laws during the current session of Parliament. UFBU has therefore, decided that they should be ready for instant protest strike in such an eventuality”.
“…a bipartite meeting between the IBA and UFBU on July 24, 2012 was held as per the advice of the Deputy CLC. While we have explained all our demands to the IBA in detail and emphasised the need for an amicable solution to the issues, the IBA has remained
unresponsive till date. In view of this, as decided in UFBU meeting held after our discussions with the IBA, we have served the strike notice on IBA,” read the circular.
The main issues include settlement of pending demands, stopping arbitary guidelines of human resource issues, stopping unilateral implementation of Khandelwal Committee Recommendations, a freeze on outsourcing of bank jobs, a hold over banking sector reforms and non-closure of rural branches.
 “It is also learnt that in the ensuing monsoon session of Parliament, the government is proposing to get the Banking Law Amendment Bill passed. The proposed amendments to the Banking Regulations Act and Bank Nationalisation Act are unwarranted and aimed at further de-regulating and liberalising the banking sector with increasing voting rights for foreign and corporate investors, etc. Hence, as decided in our last meeting, all our unions and members are ready for an instant strike if the government would suddenly bring the Bill for consideration by Parliament,” said Venkatachalam.