I call upon CMDs of various banks to listen the voice of silent protestors, read the contents of writs filed in various high courts, opinion published in website such allbankingsolutions.com, open your eyes and ears and act fastly to correct the mistake done on 27.04.2010.
Please do not kill the voice coming from your own heart and mind. None of the respectable, wise, experienced, intelligent , talented, law abiding , and knowledgeable person in the banking industry of lawyers club of India will concur with injustice done to Non pension optees through the 9th Bipartite settlement
Since courts are slow, you cannot perpetuate reign of injustice in wage agreement for long as you are doing injustice in promotion processes and transfer decisions and employees of India cannot allow you to use discriminatory and divisive wage scale defying fundamental Laws of equality enshrined in Indian Constitution.
Various letters have been written to important dignitaries of the country in this regard by so many persons working in different banks. But unfortunately politicians of our country also do not understand the problem of victims for years and years, decades ad decades as long as there is mass movement, violent agitation arsoning, strike, lock out, destruction of public property, closure of banks and ATM, disturbing customer service etc .
It is ridiculous that those politicians in India suggest dialogue with naxalites and terrorists but never try to solve the problem from the root before it takes violent form. The said agreement was also signed after agitation and strike done by bank employees many times during preceding 30 months. It is sad that a few greedy leaders, I say hardly 10 persons spoilt the career and fate of 10 lac employees.
When king is Tuglak, everything is possible. When Koda is Chief Minister of a state, everything is possible. When IAS officers are like Mr Rathod, murder of innocent girl like Ruchika is not surprising. When person like Raju is CMD of Satyam computers, when CAs are dishonest certification of fake balance sheet is not impossible in India and similarly when CAs are corrupt, rating agencies rate on the basis and quantum of bribe and fees they get, happening of fraud or manipulation with balance sheet is not impossible for banks and I it is not astonishing to anyone in India at least.
I submit a copy of letter written by one retired officer.
The Editor,
Business Line
Dear Sir,
Stalemate over banking consensus
Queer banking equations implanted in the Pension Agreement signed along with ninth bipartite settlement attracted nationwide resentment among bank men, delaying its implementation indefinitely. A group of dissatisfied employees secured stay order from Madras High Court putting IBA and bank unions in the defense box. When they merely objected the recovery of a portion of their pay as contribution to Pension Fund for giving them entry to Pension Scheme, the long cherished desire of the retired to get pension is delayed further, adding to their more than a decade old sufferings. The irrational terms providing for recovery of 2.8 time revised pay from new entrants in respected of the employees on rolls as on the date of agreement (27 April, 2010), recovery of 156 percent CPF and interest paid at the time of retirement in respect of the retired, &nbs p; forfeiture of pension from the date of retirement to the arbitrary date of 27 November, 2009 to the retired, payment of commutation reckoning the age as on date of fresh option instead of the age of retirement, non inclusion of resigned employees who have qualifying service for Pension etc . are tools devised to take away huge sums from the prospective beneficiaries of Pension Scheme. ; It becomes wild justice, quite illegal and irrational, in the context of the Pension Regulations being one and the same as on the date of agreement and existing Pension Opted employees have derived the benefit without any levy or penalty. &nbs p; While addressing the anomaly of denying the social security benefit to a large segment by extending them a fresh chance for option, five fresh glaring anomalies have been infused into the scheme, making it a black agreement altogether.
In earlier Bipartite settlements, after setting apart a portion of the total load factor towards Pension Fund, the remainder alone was distributed among CPF opted and Pension opted, putting the former to erosion of emoluments in each agreement, benefitting the latter. ; The proposal initially mooted for a uniform recovery of 1.6 times revised pay for Nov.2007 from all existing employees for sharing pension costs got changed overnight at last hour, settling down for sharing 2.6 times pay from CPF opted alone to their detriment. &n bsp; The 17.5 percent pay hike in the industry for the six days working bank employees in contrast with the 40 percent settled for five days working government staff has inculcated in them a feeling that it is the result of the additional cost of Pension rather than of the low profile bargaining of Unions. They seem to be ignoring the core fact that Pension is the consideration for services rendered and not for a mere option letter exercised on a bit of paper. While Pension opted are getting some amount as arrears of salary, almost the entire amount is snatched away from the other category. Unions that announced the twin achievement of Wage Revision and Pension Option as a grand gala victory took a somersault saying that they had no option other than agreeing to the rude terms of IBA for securing fresh Pension Option.
Recovery of 156 percent of CPF paid in the case of the retired (up to March 2010) would entail to them huge pecuniary loss as many will have to shell out as much as Rs.15.00 lakhs when their counterpart retiring in April,2010 or afterwards will have to pay a meager sum of Rs.0.30 lakhs to Rs.1.20 lakhs only. The impact of the insignificant cut-off date, which does not appeal to any reasoning is a severe blow to several beneficiaries.
The agreement provides for payment of Pension to the retired from 27th November, 2009 alone irrespective of the date of retirement. Though in all fairness, they are eligible to get monthly pension and interest on each payment date from one decade back, they are victimized through recovery of 156 percent of the CPF paid at the time of retirement uniformly. &n bsp; This apparently is a dual penalty to them. The modality is totally enigmatic and carries with it unfairness of an extreme nature.
Pension Regulations for computing commutation recognizes the age next birthday at the time of retirement whereas the agreement stipulates age on the date of fresh option to the detriment of all the retired. &nbs p; This leads to application of entirely different yardstick under the same Regulations to different beneficiaries without any logic. The delay in implementation of the agreement is worsening the situation for the retired.
Non-inclusion of the resigned employees in the scheme is a further anomaly as the resigned possessing enough qualifying service are denied the social security benefit altogether. & nbsp; When VRS retirees who are paid an incentive for going out are also considered for pension, the resigned are to be invariably extended the benefit in all cases where they are paid all other terminal benefits. Qualifying service and not the mode of exist shall be the vesting criterion for Pension unless the termination if a compulsory one through disciplinary procedures.
In financial sector, Public Sector Banks appear to be competing with others to secure the worst employer award by denying proper compensation to the work force who run the shows for the progress of the nation. Even as profits are soaring for each bank, the key men are attempting to add to their cosmetics by transferring higher profits to the exchequer, which goes to part finance the pension and wages of employees in other sectors and government. They should say what banks would have done if all had opted for pension when initially offered. &nbs p; The deprived could not opt earlier when terms of offer contained a penal clause enabling forfeiture of entire past service for participation in strike and were not given fresh chance when the adverse chapter was scrapped in 1999. While denying pension to the retired, banks that function on sole premises of laws of the country and depend on them for each transaction are blatantly flouting substantive law. Retires and working, Pension Opted and CPF opted all are, without exception, growling over the agreement percolating with gross anomalies. The retired who did their best for banks are on crossroads for want of income for subsistence and their decade old sufferings get prolonged as the stalemate on the catastrophic agreement continues. IBA, Unions and Government should evince keen interest and initiate corrigendum steps to rectify all anomalies without further waste of time and bring solace to all.
Yours faithfully,
C N Venugopalan
C N Venugopalan
Ex-Manager, Union Bank of India
Camp: 101 Pinnacle Court,
Apt. # 82, Frankfort,
Kentucky 40601 USA
Cell:0013135491401
Nandanam,
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