Bank Employees to Go on Strike for a Day on Nov 19 Against ‘Growing Attacks'
Image Courtesy: NDTV
New Delhi: Prompted by the “growing attacks” by the management against the bank staff and their job security, the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) has called for a one-day nationwide strike on November 19.
The industrial action, expected to be joined by lakhs of employees, thereby affecting banking services across the country, will also see the raising of a host of other non-financial demands, the AIBEA leader told NewsClick on Tuesday.
“Of late, we have been witnessing a growing attack by managements of different public sector banks on the job security and rights of their respective employees,” AIBEA national general secretary CH Venkatachalam said, adding, “These are all in violation against the labour laws of the country.”
Elaborating on what he meant by the said “attacks”, he highlighted that in the recent period, the pressure from the bank management’s side has increased to outsource various non-core activities in a branch and to transfer employees. Young employees are also being “victimised” now and then for participating in union-related work, Venkatachalam added on Tuesday.
“In the banking industry, we have bilateral mechanisms in place to resolve such issues both at the industry level and at respective bank levels. However, recently, the banks are increasingly becoming intolerant and are pushing for liberalisation of the whole settlement process in their favour,” he said, further alleging that such actions are also in violation of Section 33 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
The said section deals with the conciliation proceedings and puts certain restrictions on changing the service conditions of an employee during the pendency of the said proceedings. At an industry level, the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) represents the management of state-owned banks and financial institutions in the country.
On Tuesday, Venkatachalam said that AIBEA had urged the other bank organisations to join the strike. There are nine bank unions in the country, four of which represent bank officers and the rest employees. AIBEA is the largest association of bank employees.
Meanwhile, Venkatachalam also informed NewsClick that last week the employees' and officers' unions, coming together under the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), submitted a common charter of demands relating to wage revision to IBA.
“Negotiations on that will begin in the coming days,” he said.
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