Bank Unions | SabrangIndia

Bank Unions Call for All India Strike on 22nd August

Thu, 10 Aug 2017 06:41:35 +0000

The government’s gradual move towards privatising the banking sector is one of the reasons for calling the strike

Interview with Ch. Venkatachalam
Interviewed by Bodapati Srujana

C. H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary of All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA), speaks to Newsclick on the reason why bank unions called for a strike on the August 22. The government’s gradual move towards privatising the banking sector is one of the reasons for calling the strike, he said and also demanded the government should provide the required capital to the public sector banks. It is a mistaken notion to think that public sector banks are a drain on the exchequer. These banks have to give back huge funds to the government in the form of dividend payments and income tax payments.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

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We have worked overtime for 50 days: Union official explains why bank workers plan protest for Jan 3

Mon, 02 Jan 2017 06:21:14 +0000

All India Bank Employees' Association says it wants a comprehensive probe on how some individuals got crores worth of new cash.

Image credit: Mukesh Gupta/Reuters

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, he asked the nation to bear the “minor inconvenience” for 50 days. But just over 50 days later, the cash crunch has not eased. Across the country, thousands of Automatic Teller Machines remain dry. While the Reserve Bank of India has allowed a weekly withdrawal of Rs 24,000 per account, banks have set arbitrary limits in branches due to the cash shortage. However, Income Tax department raids across India have resulted in the seizure of crores of rupees in new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes. CH Venkatachalam, general secretary of the All India Bank Employees’ Association, said these raids, and the reluctance of the income tax department to give out proper information about them, have created the impression that bankers are helping black money hoarders. The association, one of the largest unions in India, has planned a nation-wide protest on January 3 demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into illegal cash exchange and compensation for the additional workload they face after demonetisation.

Edited excerpts from an interview with Venkatachalam:

The 50 days deadline given by the prime minister for return of normalcy is over. How is the situation on the ground?
There is hardly any improvement. Branches of nationalised banks across the country are facing severe cash shortage. Many of them had to fix lower withdrawal limits so that more customers could be served. In our estimate, only 40% of over two lakh Automatic Teller Machines are functional and this too for a few hours a day. We do not think this will magically improve after December 30. The Reserve Bank of India has a duty to ensure proper cash supply. As employees, we feel our image has taken a beating as customers think we are hiding cash from them and helping the rich. In reality, nationalised banks are struggling without cash supply.

But why will the employees’ image get dented when it is the RBI and the government that are to be blamed?
This is because of what has come out of raids conducted by the Income Tax department. After these raids, media, based on information from IT officials, has reported that crores of black money in the form of new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 have been seized. This gives a false perception that bankers are colluding with fraudsters. The customers are turning angry. But let me tell you that the systems have been created in such a way that we will not be able to exchange such large amounts of cash in any branch. Basically, the systems in place in nationalised banks wouldn’t allow it. Our suspicion is that the fault lies with private ATM service providers who are allowed to handle cash. The RBI is saying it is supplying enough cash. But when you go to the ground, you see that a majority of ATMs are dry. How is this possible? Is the cash getting diverted in the middle? We see a big scam here. We demand a thorough CBI probe into this problem so that the real culprits are caught.

But bank employees were also suspended for exchanging cash beyond RBI prescribed limits…
You need to place it in context. What was the amount they exchanged? A few thousand rupees. What is the amount of new currency seized in these raids? They run into hundreds of crores. I am not defending employees who erred. But you should understand that these small violations are being magnified but real culprits are happily getting away with defrauding the public. Let the CBI probe. If people are found doing something illegal, whether employees or otherwise, let them face the music. Why is there a reluctance to probe?

Do you see the cash supply situation improving in the coming days?
We are entering a new month. People will come to the bank to access their salaries and pensions. The increase in cash supply to branches should be significant to overcome this challenge. This is where I think the RBI has not functioned well. They should put out daily figures of how cash has been sent to each branch. They do have the data but they don’t want to release it. Why so? Unions have already raised this doubt. We feel some private banks are getting cash at the cost of nationalised banks. If the RBI puts out the data, we will be able to see where all the cash is going. But above all these issues, we bank employees are hurt. Visit a branch and see for yourself. We have to hear the worst of abuses from our customers. The government shouldn’t forget we are also humans. Every employee has worked overtime over the last 50 days. Many have died due to work pressure. Despite terms of employment that guarantee us extra pay for extra time, we have not been given anything. This cannot work.

How are you going to tackle the question of additional wage?
We have called for a nation-wide protest on January 3 outside all RBI regional offices. The demands include proper cash supply to branches, extra pay and a CBI probe into cash diversion. If things do not improve, we are planning to call for a strike when all unions meet for a conference on January 8. Bankers cannot be a collateral to bad policy implementation.

Courtesy: Scroll.in

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Bank Employees Revolt, Pen Strong Letter to FM Jaitley, Call for All India Protest on December 28

Sun, 25 Dec 2016 13:31:41 +0000

Representational Image

The Indian National Bank Empolyees Federation has, in a letter dated. December 22, 2016 to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley highlighted the fact that Bank employees have been used by the Modi government as the proverbial ‘fall guys’ to deal with public wrath following Notebandi (demonetization).

Meanwhile, PTI reports that the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA) have issued a call for a demonstration against the problems that various banks and their employees are facing due to demonetisation. The union will hold demonstrations on 28 December, followed by the addressing of another letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on December 29, the two bank unions said. The union members also plan to demonstrate over the issue on January 2 and 3, 2017.

The letter by the National Bank Employees Federation states that

“…we emphatically like to submit that the Bank employees has been used by the Govt. as a front door bloke to tackle the agitated public who has suffered a lot due to unexpected wave of financial concerns.
In order to tackle the rush over the counter, the employees, in tune with the Ministers /govt. officials' assurances in respect of deposit of banned currency notes in to the depositors account till December 30,2016 had all along advised the customers to wait for a comparative congenial atmosphere and not to act in haste to deposit banned notes into their accounts.

" Now, when the situation has been eased to some extent and the customers are coming to deposit Rs. 500/1000 Notes in their a/c, they are subjected to questioners' by the same persons tackling the customers over the counter and this is really awesome, as the Bank employees are not like Govt. bureaucrats or politicians to change their stand every now and then to suit their convenience.

"On the question of dishonesty on the part of the Bank employees, we, for last 10 years are requesting the Govt. of India to fix accountabilities of the Govt. nominated Chairman/EDs of various public sector Banks as they have no service conditions like other employees and we have enough reasons to believe that they have nexus with the sky high NPA's as well as bad debts write-off in the Banking Industry causing enormous damage to our economy. We have no hesitation to say, that the plight of NPA and bad debt write-off are like high mountains in comparison to small mounds of black money which are supposed to be wiped out through demonetisation. Curiously the GOI is tight lipped on the matter and also are not submitting their affidavit to the judiciary as is required before the Hon'ble High court of Mumbai.

"As the Bank employees are duty bound to carry on the instructions of the higher authorities, they are being used as a human wall against the dissatisfied mob and on December 21,2016 they have been assaulted in many parts of the country. It is unfortunate that due to frequent changes in the policy matters, the employees over the counter are themselves bewildered to follow guidelines envisaged by the RBI/GOI. It will not be out of place to mention that the same thing has happened while receiving currency notes printed before 2005 from the customers.

"We, through your good office like to request the GOI/RBI to arrive at a mind-set before issuing an instruction concerning demonetisation and also examine the impact and possible reaction of the Banking public to save the Bank employees from the wrath of the common public.

"We, further request you to ask the RBI/Head of the PSBs to make a proper plan to cater the need of the common public for withdrawal of their money from their a/c from 01.01.2017 and do the needful, so that Bank employees do not face the wrath of the public like the episode of first week of December 2016."

"AIBEA General Secretary CH Venkatchalam and his AIBOA counterpart S Nagrajan in a statement issued on Tuesday, December 20 said:
As per the call of our organisations, already our units have undertaken the programme of demonstrations in all major centres and met the local executives of RBI to hand over our memorandum.

The unions have demanded that the RBI ensure supply of adequate cash to all banks and branches, restore all ATMs without further delay, and ensure transparency in cash supply to banks. If RBI is not able to supply adequate cash to banks, then decision should be taken to suspend cash transactions in the bank branches till sufficient cash is supplied to banks.

They have also demanded a CBI inquiry into the seizures of huge numbers of new currency notes with some big persons when the bank branches are cash-starved.The unions further demanded compensation to the families of the people and bank staff who lost their lives recently due to demonetisation.

The statement asked RBI and state governments to ensure safety and protection of bank employees and officers by maintaining law and order in all branches to prevent harassment of the staff.

They also want proper compensation to employees and officers for their extra work/late sittings done in the last month or more.

Both the unions claim to have over 5.50 lakh members out of the nearly 9 lakh bank employees in the country.

The RBI on last Tuesday (December 20) modified guidelines saying KYC compliant account holders can deposits more than Rs 5,000 in old currency notes without being questioned by bank officials.Earlier this week, the RBI issued a notification directing banks to conduct due diligence of customers who wish to deposit more than Rs 5,000 in old currency till December 30.
"The credit in such cases shall be afforded only after questioning tenderer, on record, in the presence of at least two officials of the bank, as to why this could not be deposited earlier and receiving a satisfactory explanation," RBI had said.

"The instructions issued vide the RBI communication dated December 19 must be withdrawn forthwith as the banker shall not carry out the duties of CBI/ED/IB at the busy counters," AIBOC General Secretary Harvinder Singh said in a representation to RBI Governor. No accountability should be fixed on the bank officers in this respect as they are thrust with a role not expected of them, it added.

"Having demanded this, we strongly feel that withdrawal of the instruction itself will only confirm the Prime Minister's statement to the public on November 8 and improve public confidence in the banking system and reduce the
hardships faced by the officers at counters," it said.

Pointing out that the banking system itself is losing credibility because of frequent changes in RBI/Government policies, Singh said customer dissatisfaction is increasing because of chaos and confusion created in implementation of the scheme."Bank Officers are being subjected to the anger, anguish and wrath of customers or general public due to short supply of currency notes to the banks, particularly to Public Sector banks," it said.

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