Bank Unions Postpone Scheduled Bank-Wise & State-Wise Strike Action
Bank employee unions have opted to postpone the planned bank-wise and state-wise strike scheduled for 4-11 December 2023, and 2-6 January 2024, respectively. This decision follows the Indian Banks’ Association's (IBA) apparent agreement to the unions' demand for comprehensive uniform policy guidelines regarding manpower assessment and recruitment.
Despite this deferral, the unions maintain their call for a nationwide strike on 19-20 January 2024.
In a conciliation meeting before the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC), the unions highlighted the significant reduction in clerical staff in recent years due to insufficient recruitment. This decline has resulted in an excessive workload on existing staff, impacting customer service, according to C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary of the All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA).
KS Krishna, General Secretary of the All India SBI Employees’ Association, emphasised that despite the substantial increase in business volume and customers, managements have not adequately addressed the issue of staff shortages. He pointed out that customer service, workload, and work pressure on employees and officers have increased, leading to a distorted workplace harmony and work-life imbalance.
Regarding award staff, there has been a reduction of 55,000 in the clerical cadre, 21,800 in the sub-staff cadre and 17,200 in part-time employee positions between March-end 2017 and March-end 2022. This is despite the addition of 18,500 officers in public sector banks. Krishna questioned the policymakers' argument that staff requirements are decreasing with the adoption of new technologies, highlighting the paradox of increasing business correspondents, apprentices and contract workers through subsidiaries.
