How many Banks have obeyed the stay order of Madras High Court and not recovered 2.8 times of November 2007 salary from PF optees?
How many banks have not yet started paying arrears as per 9th BPS.?
How many banks have issued pension offer till date and if not why have they recovered from PF optees? Already three months are likely to complete after the date of settlement. Why bank is so slow on the issue of pension offer and so fast on the matter of recovery and similarly why union leaders are so anxious on recovery of levy of Rs.3000/ from their members and not worried for delay in offer of pension? Union leaders are getting farewell gift of five lacs or ten lacs on their retirement from Union Fund. Is this the way to use hard earned contribution made to Unions and Associations by poorly paid bank employees?
Days are not far when union leaders will distribute accumulated union levy amounting to hundreds of crores of rupees among themselves and ask for separate fee if they fight for any aggrieved employee. Are union leaders not more dangerous than our management bosses? I say this because union leaders have threatened to expel officer from their association if they do not pay union levy of Rs.3000/ on account of so called successful historic agreement. Management never dared to issue dismissal threatening to officer employee if they fail to obey any instruction of boss.
Why are employees keeping mum on illegitimate recovery and bent upon getting arrear at the earliest even if it is discriminatory? Why are they afraid of even lodging their protest before accepting arrear payment?
Bank management has signed a historic victory agreement when they have vertically divided the employees in two segments and created an unbridgeable split in banking unity and created dilution in their intensity to fight against the reign of injustice perpetuated by management.
And Bank union leaders on the contrary has committed a historic blunder by signing a discriminatory and divisive agreement on 27.04.2010 for some or the other vested interest and clearly betrayed the cause of unity for which they used to struggle under the banner of communist parties.
At least pension optees are now in support of the agreement. It hardly matters to most of them how loudly PF optees cries and weeps though in the past they all always used to be on the same platform and UFBU was also formed for the same purpose. Banking unity was an example in the community of labour class or working class.
Banks are not in the grip of flatterers. Those who are yes-men are getting timely promotion and getting best posting and in this way a team of flatterers are generated by bank management who blindly support of all action of the management right or wrong. Even union leaders do not fight against such lollipop like promotions and transfers because they say that ultimately their members are getting promotions and cream posting or choice posting though the same may be at the cost of others genuine right. At least veteran union leaders are enjoying posting in Metros and capital towns, they need not perform bank’s job, they may do their side business, they may take share from dirty dealings in credit decision or contract offers corruption and they may get sweet request from corrupt officers for reduction of punishment and so on. Lastly they may get huge gifts from top branch managers, big bribe earners, big customers and last but not the least huge money from union fund on their retirement and on attending an inquiry from Union Fund. Similarly union leaders now plead that the said agreement is good in the light of social security though they know and understand from the core of their heart that recovery from PF optees is not justified from any angle of consideration.
This is called divide and rule policy. Intelligent, talented, experienced, valued and visionary leaders of bank management who occupy the important seats of core committee of IBM as also that of United Forum of Bank Unions are very well aware and they all realize from the core of their heart that injustice has occurred with PF optees, retirees and those who have resigned. They all know very well that courts cannot deliver justice in decades and decades and this is why they are least bothered of courts also. They have gained sufficient experience by giving undue promotions to even charge sheeted officers and by rejecting even good officers. In every circular enlisting name of officers getting promotion they used to mention “subject to court decisions on various writs going on in various courts”
In the same way IBA is bent upon making recovery from PF optees subject to court decisions. But at the same time God knows whether they will issue pension offer or not. Reason for not issuing pension offer, bank will say they are waiting decision from courts. It is not surprising at least for me that even so called union leaders are also keeping mum on this matter for which they feel proud and say that the agreement is historic.
Bank Unity Zindabad?
1 comment:
Division created by 9th bipartite settlement among bank employees are mostly due to paucity of proper knowledge. Pension optees or PF optees should understand it well that payment of pension is not a third terminal benefit as prevalent in RBI or SBI or other Public Sector Undertaking. Every bank or every public organization or private sector entity which is under obligation to deduct Provident Fund from the salary of their employee is also obliged to contribute equal amount from their expenditure or revenue account. This is called Bank's contribution to PF in banking industry. Bank is making pension payment out of this fund and not from their pocket or their expenditure account.
I do not agree if banks say that there was actual need of sharing the burden during 7th or 8th or 9th Bipartite Settlement. Since union leaders did not make proper calculation and analysis of the facts about the use of funds, they might have agreed to share the burden of pension out of proposed hike in salary during 7th, 8th or 9th Bipartite Settlement. Even if it is assumed that there was shortage of fund or even if banks apprehended that crisis of fund will emerge in future in making payment of pension, it is legal obligation of employer to arrange sufficient fund from their resources, from their expenditure account. Central government provide enough amount in Budget for payment of pension to employees and there was never any hue and cry for the same.Banks were nationalized to serve the society , to fulfill the social obligation ant not to merely earn profit in thousands of crores of rupees every year by exploitation of staff, by curtaining manpower, by stopping increment of employees or by imposing hidden charges on customers or by stopping social welfare lending and indulging in bulk financing to corporate sector.
It is known to all that as soon as one employee opts for pension, Bank's entire contribution made in PF account during entire tenure of one's service is taken away by bank. Not only this bank is obliged to contribute towards pension fund every month on behalf of every pension optees the amount equal to what an employee contribute towards his PF account. .This accumulated fund from any mathematical angle will be more than enough to make payment of pension to all retirees as per prevalent rate of pension provided banks are honest enough to deposit their equal share regularly for all employees and use the accumulated fund for gain in profitable investment ventures and not loss the money by investing in share market or by keeping the fund idle. It is bitter truth that from any angle of consideration other than social security pension option for an employee was never and never an economically profitable venture and this is why there used to be prolonged debate on this issue in nineties and there was vertical split among employees on this issue. Employees had to resort to strike many times to protest imposition of pension and stopping of bank's contribution towards PF fund as also return of accumulated PF to bank.
Unfortunately Government of India adopted the policy of reformation, liberalization and globalization in the year 1991 and the basic purpose of nationalization of banks changed. Banks became a commercial entity and the element of profit became more important than that of social security. Banks started lending to rich person at low rate of interest and became hesitant to lend poor people even at their PLR or BPLR. They started reducing interest rates on deposits and hence PF optees started feeling or apprehending the pain when they retired. Not only this ,there are crores of senior citizens in our country who are sufferer of this policy of liberalization and due to low interest rate regime because their livelihood were dependent on interest income during their old age.
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