Thiruvananthapuram: Around five lakh bank employees affiliated to the All-India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) will strike on January 8 to press their demands. The talks between the managements and the association on December 30 in the presence of chief labour commissioner in Delhi had failed.
Mr K.S. Krishna, general secretary of State Bank of Travancore Employees Union affiliated to AIBEA, alleged that the managements of the associate banks of State Bank of India (SBI) were unilaterally implementing the Career Progression Scheme (CPS) of the SBI violating the bipartite settlement. A common settlement was signed between the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and AIBEA that defined the duties and remuneration of the employees for undertaking various jobs in the banks.
As per it , the service conditions of the associate banks were different from that of the SBI. However, the managements of the five banks were implementing the service conditions of SBI. This was illegal and a violation of the settlement. The five associate banks are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur.
The association accused the IBA of remaining a silent spectator even while the managements of associated banks violated the terms of the settlement. The central government had approved the death –in- harness schemes for banks and the IBA had instructed all banks to implement it.
However, the SBI diluted the scheme restricting it to only dependants of employees who died below the age of 30 or those with less than five years’ service. The SBI also unilaterally imposed this on associate banks. The association has also condemned the decisions to give additional duties, outsourcing of jobs, increased working hours and abolition of sweepers’ cadre.
