BANK STRIKE IN INDIA

The two day strike called by Bank employees all over India on 24 Sep 2008 and 25 Sep 2008 has received flaks from people of all walks of life. The general impression is that Bank employees in India are the most pampered lot and they have no grievances. But the truth is different. Banking has changed a lot in the in the last decade with the advent of technology. Traditionally a Banker was collecting deposits and advancing loans. He was doing ancillary services like issuing of demand drafts, collection of cheques, safe custody of articles, and dealing in Foreign Exchange which was all required for the overall economic development of the country. These services coupled with the traditional business required a Banker to be well versed in the plethora of laws like Banking regulation act, RBI ACT, Negotiable Instruments Act, Contract Act, Transfer of Properties Act , Foreign Exchange Management Act etc. He was expected to know the skills that are required to a Farmer, Businessman, Industrialist etc. as the bank was dealing with all these kinds of people and the Banker should be an expert in those fields to give them maximum support for their development. With nationalization of banks in India in 1969 banks were opened far and wide in the country and the public sector banker played a major part in the development of the under developed areas of our country. The Banker was supported by adequate staff in discharging the duties in the 1970’s and 1980’s. With the advent of information technology in the 1990’s suddenly the Banker found himself to be in want of some more additional qualification like computer knowledge and updating himself with the latest computer software’s. The average Indian banker rose to the challenge and updated himself with the latest knowledge and improving the profitability of the organization for which he is employed. But the freeze in fresh recruitment in banking industry, retirement of experienced staff over the period has increased the load of the bankers in India. Added to this the banks in India explored new business avenues like life insurance, general insurance, mutual funds to increase their profitability and the banker is forced to market these products. The management fully utilized the banker’s proximity with the customers and thrust upon him additional burden without giving him any support. The competition that is thrust upon the banker has increased the customer expectations and the banker in India always found themselves in the receiving end. The joke amongst the banker is that they nobody is coming forward to marry bank employee because he is already married to his Bank.

All the bank officials are subject to transfer from their place of posting once in 3 years and they have to leave their family because it will affect the education of the children. They have to spend additional amount for the upkeep of their family at a separate place. But, they are not monetarily compensated for these transfers, and also they will be drawing lesser salary when they are transferred to a place away from city because the prevalent HRA, CCA in cities is more than towns and villages.

The public sector bank employees in India always rose to the occasion in increasing the agricultural lending, recovering the old dues and improving the profitability of banks, in spite of stiff competition that is unleashed against them due to financial sector reforms since 1992.Banks which were in red due to the strict accounting policies as per the Narasimham Committee Recommendations have now made a turnaround and all the public sector banks in India are ready for the BASEL II Accord stipulation of capital requirement as per international standards.

But unfortunately, successive wage revisions of the bank employees which are concluded once in 5 years always pegged an increase of 10% to 12 % over the years, which are peanuts when compared to the other organizations and Government Pay Revision Recommendations. The last revision which has expired in Oct 2007 has increased the salary by only 10.50% in Nov 2002 whereas all other employees of other organizations were getting a minimum raise of 25%. Whenever bank employees go on strike they promptly deduct the strike day’s salary from their salary. No work No pay is strictly followed. The bank employees demand for another option for pension stems from the fact of insecurity that is looming large in industry due to Exit policy and Voluntary Retirement Scheme.

A happy and contended individual is an asset for the organization. Bank employees in India who are the custodians of the public money should be happy to continue their exemplary performance which is seen by the growth of the public sector banks over the years. It is imperative on the part of the management and the Government to see that genuine demands of the bank employees are met and a healthy atmosphere is created.