Whether the trade unions are bothered at all for the salary revision ?

Dear Colleagues,
We reproduce , herewith, the AIBOC circular issued after the UFBU meet on 04/11/2009. We regret to note that the meeting was held to discuss the wage revision issue , but the circular does not mention any matter related with salary revision . It appears that the trade union leadership is not at all bothered to fight for a decent salary for the officers of the banking sector. The total focus is on the issue of second option for pension, despite the fact that a large number of officers ( including all who joined after 01/11/1993 are compulsorily pension optees ) are in the need of respectable hike in their salaries to meet rising cost of living. The load sharing issue of pension is not only confusing , but alarming to all the young officers. If the health of the Corpus fund is not capable to take the load at present , what will happen in future when the pensioners will outnumber the working population ? There is a need to bring out all the facts and figures of the Pension Fund , before embarking on any negotiations in the matter. Nevertheless, there is an urgent need of seeking pay parity with the officers of the central government in order to adequately compensate the bankers for the hard work rendered by them to the nation.
BOPF Team
AIBOC Circular reproduced :
CIRCULAR NO: 83 6th November, 2009
TO ALL AFFILIATES/MEMBERS:

UFBU MEETING HELD AT CHENNAI ON 4TH Nov. 2009

A meeting of the UFBU was held today in Chennai. Com P S Pillai (President, BEFI) presided over the meeting.

(a) The meeting took note of the negative approach of the Government in relation to the revised scheme of compassionate ground appointment/financial compensation to the family of the employees dying in harness and felt that the scheme as discussed and finalized between UFBU and IBA should be got expedited.
(b) As regards the condition of the IBA that the entire cost of pension arising out of the wage revision to be adjusted from the proposed wage revision and that in the next settlement again another actuarial valuation should be carried out and the gap should be funded by employees sharing the same, after detailed discussions, the UFBU while rejecting the above conditions, expressed its view that the additional pension cost can be adjusted by sharing a portion of the same as was done in the 7th and 8th bipartite wage revision.
(c) Regarding IBA’s condition that a new contributory pension scheme should be accepted by the unions from 1-4-2010 as a pre-condition for extending one more option for pension scheme, the UFBU felt that a mutually acceptable solution should be worked out to resolve the same as unilateral imposition of such conditions are not acceptable.
(d) Regarding IBA’s suggestion for introduction of the concept of fixed pay and variable pay for bank employees/officers, UFBU decided not to accept the proposal.

2. Based on the above, the meeting decided to pursue the issues with the IBA during the next round of talks to be held shortly and to expedite the conclusions as early as possible.

3. Comrades, we are aware that speculations and rumours are being circulated here and there which are only adding to the anxieties of the membership. Hence UFBU appeals to all units and members not to fall a prey for such propaganda and close up the ranks at this crucial juncture when all attempts are being made by the UFBU to expedite the settlement.

With greetings,


(G.D. NADAF)
GENERAL SECRETARY

BANK’s WAGE REVISION Mathematics

Dear Colleague,
We are bringing to your notice some detailed discussions appearing on the NET regarding inept handling of wage negotiations for bankers. The desperation shown by a section of trade unions for getting the second option of pension will not only sacrifice the interest of lacs of young employees , but will also adversely affect the morale of work force who are supposed to carry forward their institutions in the years to come.
BOPF TEAM

An excerpt from the blog “ PAY COMMISSION “
BANK’s WAGE REVISION Mathematics
1. Initially IBA has agreed for Rs 6000/ Crore as wage revision Burden due external relativity (6th Pay commission recommendation). Later on improved up to Rs 7800 Crores.
2. Employee Unions raised the demand for pension Option. Option was converted into Pension burden calculation and sharing of Pension burden. Silently and conveniently External Relativity was ignored and lost.
a) Initially for current employee Pension burden (Rs 6000 crore )
b) later on even for employees retired after 1996 pension burden Rs 3000 Crores.
3. Mathematics of pension is as followsAssumption Rs 250 crores is 1% (figures in Crore)Total Wages offered by IBA = Rs 7800/- (Approx 31.2 %)Total Burden of Pension = Rs 6000 Crores Out of whichIBA agreed pension burden = Rs 4200 Crores (deducted from wage offer)Wage revision offer shown to us = 3600 Crores (7800 – 4200= 3600) (actually 14.4 %) Employee to bear Pension burden = Rs 1800 CroresNet (Actual ) Wage revision offer is only = Rs 1800/ Crores (Rs3600 Cr -1800Cr= 1800Cr) = 7.20 %
High Lights of wage revision Agreement :-
1. IBA was ready to pay 31.20 % rise Rs 7800 Crores
2. Full pension burden is adjusted from wage hike in either way.(7800Cr-6000Cr)
3. Unions wants to help even retired (after 1996) employee from this wage revision.
4. Net Wage revision offered is meager Rs 1800 Crores (Aprox 7.20%)
5. If pension is actually given as an option Employee would get 31.20 % rise in wage which when compared with external relativity (Central Govt employee was given 33 % to 40 % Rise.) may be in acceptable limit.
6. Pension burden is fully loaded on Bank’s employees.
7. Decision of Retired employee burden (RS 3000 Crores ) sharing is not clear.
8. In desperate bid to obtain 2nd pension Option, Union have opened a new way to IBA for sharing the future wage revision burden by employees.
9. This is not the pension option, it is burden sharing by Current employees.
10. Unions are silently playing against current employee interest,
Members needs to be alert of development, and read all UFBU circulars carefully. And Act if necessary.

Don't keep mum on the question of your salary.

Dear colleagues,
Most of our fellow bankers, who are working day and night have not kept track of the erosion in their salary structure over the past several years/decades. This is high time that we rethink that the Pillai Commission Recommendations,1979, which had brought down salaries of bankers to keep parity with the officers and employees of central government. Now the time has come to seek restoration of the same parity .The awareness is required to be spread among our fellow bankers across the country.
We are bringing to your attention the concerns of a banker about the plight of our colleagues , who kept on working for the banks leaving their faith in their leaders for salary and other issues.But , his feelings of erosion in his real salary vis-à-vis his counterparts in the government over the years and the causes for the same reproduced here, raises serious concerns on the sincerity of the people involved in various salary revision under the government owned banks:


PUBLISHED IN THE BLOG PAY COMMISSION

BALAN said...
TO THE LEADERSHIP OF AIBEA/BEFI/AIBOC
I am a retired bank officer under vrs 2001 scheme opted for pension. I served for Indian bank for 25 years.
I joined as a clerk in the year 1976, after serving as a lecturer . At that time the starting salary for clerk is more than that of a college lecturer. Since this was un acceptable to the govt bosses, Pillai committee was implemented forcefully on the bank officers during 1979.
Under the stewardship of late Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister things started moving in favour of central govt employees and liberal pay commission award was given wef 1986 in the year 1989. Disparity started at that level. Much more magnanimous awards under the guise of VTH pay commission an increase of 30% increase of nearly 40 % even much more at the top scales were given during the election year by the same finance minister as VI TH pay commisssion As a result the cabinet secretary s basic pay has gone up from 4000 during 1977to 90000 after sixth pay commissions. Public sector employees / officers salary levels were also raised. THEN UGC SCALES, JUDGES SALARY, ONE RANK ONE POST. EVERYWHERE THE GOVT IS MUCH MORE LIBERAL.So during the last two years EACH AND EVERY SECTOR CONTROLLED/patronized by the govt got substantial pay increase without any negotiation. That clearly shows that the awards are more generous than bipartite negotiations .
It is unfortunate that the proposal of IBA for a meager 17.5 % increase was rejected under the stewardship of Mr. Pranab mukergee who is emanating from west Bengal. So all the top leaders can fix an urgent meeting with our FM with all facts and figures particularly the PILLAI COMMITTEE rationalization and the successive wage erosion not revision when compared the pay commission awards. The extra load /per capita business /productivity etc particularly after vrs 2001 where the extra work load also was absorbed.
If we are going to accept the 15% or 17.5% increase then this mistake will never get rectified in the future wage revision.
Hence the unions can propose the following :
1. grant of interim relief @ 20% from 01nov2007 on basic and DA
2. Seeking an appointment of banking pay commission with a fixed time frame of one year to award recommendations with suitable terms of reference including the risk factors, work load responsibilities.
3. This revision can be syncronised with the seventh pay commission date say 1 st january2016. A total of 8 years wil come. Hence from 01 january 2016, the govt will automatically will appoint the next banking pay commission . We need not go and beg IBA WITH A BOWL . ALL officers and employees will get decent increase in the salary without any strike.
4. The genuine policies of the Govt like consolidation on a small scale if it is good for the industry and selected out sourcing to reduce overall wage burden has to be considered on merit basis by taking an over all view.
5. Pension option to all the past retirees and one more option for pension also to be taken immediately and it has to be settled prior to wage revision without considering the same as load. If all the employees had opted for pension earlier this load factor would not have come now.
6. Pension also should be revised on line with central govt awards and no compromise should be made on this.
Kbalasubramanian retited senior manager under VRS 2001 scheme Indian bank

The rationale for demanding a decent hike in salary for bankers

We are reproducing an article for the reference of our fellow bankers :
PSU Pay Revision Govt Says okay for further revision in pay for PSU officers About four lakh officers of central public sector enterprises will benefit from a government decision today giving them a further increase in salary and allowances, over and above the hikes announced last year.
The decision to improve the salary structure of officers at board level and below, along with supervisory staff, was taken at the Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The improved pay packages will also include increase in house rent allowance and retirement benefits.
The decisions are based on the recommendations of the committee of ministers headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram, which went into the revised salary and allowances notified earlier in November last year by the government.
PSU officers, particularly in the oil sector, forced the government to revisit their revised pay scales when they went on strike in January this year.
Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Chidambaram said the revision in the pay structure would vary from company to company. reports pti
BOPF opinion :
Now, the forum is of the view that when the council of ministers , headed by the P.M. can intervene to get a justified wage to PSE’s officers , why can’t they do so for bank officers ?
Is it not unfair on the part of the IBA and the UFBU to harp upon the agenda of meager percentage hikes in salary revision , when the emoluments of the officers of the Central government , various state governments and the central PSEs have been revised in the range of 45 % to 80 %. ?
Is it not the duty of the Government to bring in parity of salary structure and superannuation benefits of its different sets of officers and employees , whether working directly ( eg. Government officers and employees ) and indirectly ( eg. officers and employees working under various public sector units) ?
Is it not the duty of the IBA to to advise the government( in the fashion of armed forces during the 6 th pay revision of the Central Government ) that the bankers deserve a much better deal than are being offered as present ?
Is it not expected by our fellow bankers that the UFBU should not press for any revision instead of negotiating in the abysmally low range of 15 to 30 percent hike , much below the average hikes settled to other sets of people working for the government ?
Can the IBA and the UFBU sacrifice the interests of majority of the young officers for getting pension to the older lots ?
For getting the answers to these questions and many more , we need to ask more questions from our associations/federations and the IBA . We must convey our anguish over the low quantum of propsed hikes and the manner of negotiations to the appropriate authorities ,including IBA,AIBOC,NOBO,AIBOA, UFBU,MOF and The PM too.
We must note that by asking for a decent salary and superannuation package , we are not begging , but we are promoting equality among public servants . If we are not asking for a just salary structure , we are denying a minimum level of decent living standard for our family members . COMMUNICATE YOUR VIEWS EFFECTIVELY TO ARRIVE AT A CONSENSUS

An appeal to all concerned in the growth of Indian Economy on behalf of fellow bankers

An appeal to all concerned in the growth of Indian Economy on behalf of fellow bankers :
At the onset , I want to bring your kind attention towards the need for an appeal . There has been a salary revision pending for the Public Sector and old generation private sector banks’ officers and employees since 1st November ‘ 2007. The salary revision is a component of controlled economy , where a tenure based revision in compensation takes place under the governmental control to compensate employees working under controlled sectors are compensated for increased cost of living and for changes in life styles of general populace.
Of late it has been observed that the two important group in financial domain namely , Public sector banks and the public sector insurance companies , who deserve their due credits in bringing the country to the take off stage for sustained economic development are at the receiving end as far as the compensation packages for their officers and employees are concerned. Historically , the compensation for the officers and employees of the public sector banks and insurance companies were at par with those of the central government’s officers and employees until the fourth pay revision of the central government employees . Since 1992 onwards the gap between the central government employees and those of bankers and insurers people started widening since 1992 onwards And at present the situation has come to such a mess that the negotiations , if any , on the quantum of revision are itself on a ridiculously low levels. As far as the bankers are concerned the IBA and the UFBU are negotiating on percentages of five -yearly hike at the base levels of 15 to 20 percent , which should be an annual increase in compensatio0n for people working in financial sector in Modern India. More surprisingly , this level of compensation are debated in the backdrop of decent hikes of central government officers and employees , their sizable counterparts in majority of states and CPSEs including the Public Sector Oil marketing companies . The basic flaw in salary revision for the bankers and the insurers appear to be in the channels of revision exercise. For bankers “ wage negotiations “ take place between the IBA and the trade unions , as if the IBA representatives own the bank and the trade union representatives are the suppliers of men in a private agreement ( And the owners the Government acts as a judge , in the mock fight , and the deprived lots are those , who are “ wage earners “ as medieval age migrant laborers , who were traded in all kind of labor supplies by the traders of human beings ).
These raises few fundamental questions :
1. Can a government allow discrimination between the compensation of the people employed under it directly or indirectly . ?
2. Can a government allow the mock fight ( as in case of the IBA and The trade unions ) for a surprisingly base level revision ?
3. Can the Trade unions or the IBA are competent to sort out the matter having wider long term impact of the morale of the bankers?
4. Are the trade unions are truly representing the actual working populations and there sentiments or are they the same non- representative body as the IBA is as owners of the banks ?
5. Haw can the government ignore a fact that the public sector bankers and insures have brought about a dynamic changes in the economy of the country working tirelessly and deserve a decent compensation , at least at par with CG officers and employees ?
6. It is a fact that the Public sector Banks and Insurance companies are implementing the government policies for social good without caring for profits just like Indian Railways, India Post and a host of. oil marketing companies . Even after that , they have given decent earnings over the year . Hence , the employees af these sectors deserve the similar compensation and the social security benefits as available to their counterparts in the government and CPSEs .
7. Even in the recent economic turmoil across the globe the resilience of the Indian PSBs and PS Insurers has been appreciated . There have been a genuine shift of public preferences towards them . Despite such a favourable climate and genuine preferences available among the public , a huge amount of money are spent for advertisements by PSBs and PS Insures , but when it comes to give decent compensation to its hard working officers and employees , the negotiators representing the management sides cite government as the main obstacle in way of genuine needs of the employees.

8. Can any body dispute the fact that the needs of the bankers and the insures are the same as those of other working population and the cost of living has increased in all aspect for them as the cost of education of kids and other expenses have shot up over the years ? There has been a large misconception among the general public that the Public Sector Bankers and Insurers are getting hefty pay and perquisites . But the moment anybody comes to know that the compensation of even the CMDs of PSBs and PSIs are less than the entry level recruits of new generation private sector and foreign banks, they are unable to believe.
9. It is a common knowledge that any service industry like banks is totally dependent on its people , who serve the ultimate beneficiary of its services. Hence, it is the need of the hour of all concerned to optimally compensate the bankers and insurers of the Public Sector for keeping up the momentum of growth of the Indian Economy.

We request the people of India ,in general , and all the authorities concerned for in the growth of Indian Economy , in particular , to come forward for getting the due compensation package to the Public Sector Bankers and Insures at par with those of officers and employees in the central government .

Forum’s stand on proposed strike on 28/03/2009 called by the ABOA

The BOPF has received various queries from its members from Associate Banks’ of SBI regarding the justifications for the strike call at this point of time , where entire country is in election mode and small pressure group like ABOA may go totally unnoticed. The Forum has deliberated on the issue and reached to a conclusion that even though the strike call is not properly timed , it is for the genuine demands of the officers of ABs. It is the desire of the officers of Associate Banks for an equitable treatment in the State Bank Group , which will be reflected by a successful strike.

Moreover the Forum is reviewing its stand on the issue of Merger of ABs with SBI due to few recent developments in State Bank Group :

1. Reduction in seniorities of officers of erstwhile SBS in SBI , which goes against the commitment given by the SBI chairman to give equitable treatment to the SBS officers and employees after merger. The Forum believes that the recent circular is issued without the knowledge of the chairman of SBI and will be withdrawn soon .However , pending withdrawal of the said circular , it would be dissuading factor for the offices of other ABs to aspire for merger with SBI.

2. Recent reports regarding SBI’s demand for levying fees for use of LOGO by ABs appears to be ridiculous. It can be compared to a situation , where an elder brother asks the younger one to pay a fee for using family’s surname .The formation of SBI and its associate banks were done by acts of parliament and these banks were created by change in names of the banks conducting government business. The SBI emerged out of the Imperial Bank servicing the interest of “videshi” colonial rulers , whereas the Asociate Banks’ earlier avatars were servicing the interests of “ Desi “ rulers. In Free India , a descendent of the colonial ruler cannot claim a bigger pie than those of local powers.

3. A large number of privileges enjoyed by the employees of SBI must be extended to employees of other PSBs . The special status of SBI has been changed after transfer of shares of SBI from the RBI to the Central Government. Hence , it is the need of the hour that the Central Government makes uniform service conditions for all the PSBs.

4. All the shares of Associate Banks held by SBI should be transferred to the Central Government . The LOGIC that the Regulator should not own an entity which is to be regulated by it , under which SBI’s shares were transferred by the RBI , should be extended a little further that an entity should not control another in the same sector , which is supposed to compete with it for business. In such a case independent associate banks will offer much better growth opportunities and job satisfaction to its officers and employees.

5. The Forum has so far tried to consolidate and express the feelings of its members and expect more participation from its members to effect desired legislations related with the banking industry in the country.

NO HURRY FOR PEANUT WAGE HIKE

There has been limited optimism among our colleague officers in all the Public Sector Banks in the country regarding their salary revision (A five yearly ceremony due since Nov’2007). Even though there is a lot of anguish against peanut offered by the IBA, apparently 13 % hike, still our representative bodies negotiating the revision are unable to transmit the feelings of their members to the IBA and through them to the main stake holder, the Government of India. One fact must be borne in mind that though the IBA, represented by few CMDs of PSBs, are negotiators but the Central government being the largest stake holder of the PSBs is responsible for a fair wage settlement.

So far it appears that the negotiations between the IBA and the Trade Unions are more for pension issues rather than for salaries. This tendency is a natural corollary of the fact that the negotiators on both sides of the table are nearing their superannuation and are more interested to apportion a major share of load for pension payment than for giving a better package to those who have to run the banks in coming decades.

As all of us are aware that the Bank Officers have always got the salaries in line with their counterpart group ‘A’ officers in the central government of similar length of services. Historically, right from the starting salaries up to the highest salaries have been in line with those of the officers joining Group ‘A’ services in the Central Government and retiring at their respective top positions. Hence, the present salary revision is required to be done on the lines of the Central Government officers as per the sixth pay commission. This is more important if Government do not want to make public sector bankers a frustrated lot.

The forum is of the view that the public sector bankers have been playing a vital role in the growth of the country and the risk and responsibilities shared by them have also increased by leaps and bound over the time. Moreover, they also require a reasonable compensation in an era of liberalization affecting their quality of life adversely. Present PSB officer can’t imagine to educate his/her children even in the government supervised IITs and IIMs without taking loans, which was not the case in his/her senior colleagues. The wage structure outside PSU Banks has changed so dramatically, that the Public Sector Bankers are no longer considered better off people in Metros and are considered as marginalized lot.

Does profitability have any bearings on salaries and pensions of the employees of Indian Railways, India Post or PSUs in other sectors involved in nation building? Then, why our negotiations have been limited to a percentage of additional loads against the need of people working in the banks? Are the PSBs run purely on business lines like ICICI bank or CITIBANK? Are PSBs are not made to intervene in market stabilization even at loss? Are the PSBs not advised to buy currencies to stop depreciation of Rupee, when otherwise its sale would have been beneficial for them? Are the PSBs not opening branches in remote locations despite knowing well that no profit could be generated for the next few years from such branches? All such activities are not being compensated and even if some subsidy is received, it offsets the losses to a very limited extent only. A PSB officer collects taxes up to mid night and supervises elections like civil servants also. Being in Public Sector, each officer of the PSBs knows that these are part of functioning of the PSBs. But no one can deny that these types of activities definitely affect the profitability of the banks adversely. The irony is that the same profitability is being harped upon by the IBA when the salaries are fixed.

To be realistic to all the officers of the PSBs, the forum proposes that:

1. All the officers of the PSBs be given salaries in line with pay band 3 and pay band 4 settled by the sixth pay commission for central government officers.

2. All other perks should be brought in line with Central Govt. officers apart from those, which are exclusively for business developments.

3. Burden of pension should not form a part of the wage negotiations. Rather, the corpus of pension and provident funds should be transferred to the Consolidate Fund of India and the Government should pay the Pension and PF as they pay to the employees of Indian Railways, Indian Post and BSNL etc.

It is high time that the officers should communicate to their representatives for these demands and any other such demand they feel more relevant.

It is better that a better salary be aspired for, a few months later instead of settling for peanuts in a hurry.

A HAPPY PUBLIC SECTOR BANKER IS A FOUNDATION STONE FOR A SOUND ECONOMY

ARE BANKERS WORTH OF 10% HIKE ONLY?

Hi everybody,

Now, after wasting our time for more than a year, we have been told that the IBA has offered us a 10 per cent raise in our salaries!

What’s your first feeling on hearing this?

My initial reaction is simply outrageous. Atrocious!

Yes, my dear friends, this is not only unacceptable but also puts the employees in utmost shame.

India’s national income has recorded an average annual growth of over nine per cent in the last four years.

In line with the economy’s growth, our PSBs too have shown an average annual growth of between 20 and 40 per cent depending on the individual bank.

But, how much of this growth has been shared with the employees, who are the bedrock of these organizations?

To make matters simpler, a study was done taking into account the Group-wise average figures for two groups – SBI and Associates Group (SBG) consisting of eight banks and Nationalized Banks (NBG) consisting of twenty banks. All figures are from the RBI website

Let us see the findings of the study:

To continue please click on the link below:

(http://sites.google.com/site/wagenegotiation/).