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
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
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
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
Saturday, August 1, 2009
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 .
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 .
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