DECEMBER STRIKE - IS IT A JOKE OR MAKING FOOLS OF BANK-MEN

An article, written by Mr. Abdul Kader Kutty,  has appeared in one of the websites on the Strike call given by some bank unions recently. We are publishing the same here for our readers.

The news was really stunning-The news of bank men going on strike on 16th December demanding - of all the demands, hold your breath -nationalization of existing private sector banks and stopping further banking reforms.

The leaders while declaring the strike call were ominously silent on the on going struggle for wage revision-They chose to remain silent on this immediate and urgent lively hood issue of bank employees while waxing eloquent on those political issues dear to them and for which they have made us wage many a war earlier knowing well that these are merely political policy issues for which they don’t have mandate from nor a consensus among members.

The news seemed a joke or were the leaders making the rank and file of the bank union fools or idiots? What else one could make out of this senseless and idiotic gesture from the leaders at this juncture?
The present wage structure in banks is 7 years old and the revision even as per the agreement in force is overdue for nearly two years. Bank employees have been on strike path for a long time now demanding an honorable wage settlement without even a modicum of success in sight.
This in a political atmosphere where the central govt employees gained a stupendous increase in their wages even beyond their wild dreams, that toowith out the need to flex their union muscles even once. The Govt was generous to a fault and did not grudge the employees this bonanza, out of the revenue kit of the Govt.
The bank employees have been making the coffers of the banks fatter and fatter all these 7 years. The productivity, profit and business per employee of the banks have increased manifold during this period. The percentage of employee cost to the total income and total expense has come down drastically. The external parity of the pay scales in banks has plummeted to new lows while the responsibility and work load of employees have sky rocketed to new heights. And yet to get a legitimate wage hike commensurate with rise in productivity, employees have been waging a war for long without a victory even in sight. And then comes our great leaders out opening a new war front for their exclusive political agenda that they themselves very well know that only remotely concerned with the employees and un-winnable.
It is nearing two months since the last meeting took place with the IBA on the wage settlement. There is no news about the date of next meeting. Is this the way to handle the wage negotiation? Does it warrant such callousness and laziness on the part of our leaders. It warrants only this much urgency! Or are our leaders pre-occupied with their separate agendas to neglect this urgent burning issue? What is going on? Has any body any clues on the matter?

Rumors are going round that IBA is not giving a date for next meeting. If it is true it is very pathetic. Who is responsible for such a situation? Why the UFBU has lost its standing, worth and prestige, its bark and bite? What has made them crawl and wriggle before IBA as spineless worms?
Members cannot remain mute spectators any more.
It is high time they take the situation on their own hands and ask the leaders to come clean on the matter. The leaders should be made to explain the reasons for not exploiting an opportune time for clinching a favorable deal for us like for central govt employees and for their miserable failure on this front. And chalk out an effective way to win the battle. Meanwhile the present strike call should be ignored by one and all.
Source: http://www.allbankingsolutions.com/Wage-revision-december-strike-a-joke.HTM