WAGE REVISION IN THE BANKING
INDUSTRY
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The eagerly awaited and much
delayed wage revision in the banking industry, due
to protracted negotiations, at long last witnessed signing of a
Settlement between the IBA andWorkmen and Officers'
Associations on 23rd February 2015
1. The wage revision will be
effective from 1st November 2012.
2. The annual wage increase in
salary and allowances at 15% works out to Rs. 4725 crores
on salary slip components.
3. The new scales will be
constructed after
merging dearness allowance corresponding 4440
points as on November 2011, which works out to 60.15% and
adding a load factor of 2% on Basic Pay plus Dearness
Allowance as on 31st March 2012 amounting to around Rs. 597
crores.
4. Every second and fourth
Saturday of the month will be a holiday and the other
Saturdays will be full working days
5. The parties will meet on
mutually convenient days to draw out a detailed Bipartite
Settlement / Joint Note on the various issues on which consensus positions
have been reached. The
parties will endeavour to finalise the
Bipartite Settlement /Joint Note within a period of ninety days
from the date of the present Settlement (i.e. 23rd February
2015).
The important parameters of
wage revision finalized in the banking industry having
thus been known, have paved the way for pay-revision in the
RBI. It is expected that while the wage negotiations may be held
simultaneously with the four
respective representative
bodies of the Class III, Class IV and Officers (AIRBEA, AIRBWF,
RBIOA and AIRBOA), the wage settlements will be signed
with the AIRBEA and the AIRBWF and the Administrative
Circulars will be issued in respect of officers on reaching
understanding with RBIOA and AIRBOA. It is anybody's guess how long
will it take to complete the whole
process of wage settlements
before the issue of Pension Updation in respect of retired
employees is taken up. Since the issues of Pension Updation and
one more pension option are pending with the Ministry of
Finance (MoF) despite the Bank
having complied with their
pre-conditions under duress, prior approval is needed in view of
the commitment made by the RBI's Management. Whereas, in respect
of wage revision, the Bank Management only needs to keep
the Government (Ministry of
Finance) informed, the RBI
Pensioners may have to wait, by way of conservative estimate, for
at least more than six months.
Since many of the Pensioners
are in their twilight years and the fact is that hundreds of
retired employees have already left for heavenly abode, it is of
utmost importance that the United Forum and the All India Retired
Employees Association press the proactive
and enlightened RBI Management
to immediately RBI pensioners have every
right to enjoy more or less the same standard of life and life
with dignity as they had done at the
time of retirement, the fact
which has been emphasized by the successive Pay Commissions for
civil employees in the Central Government and the Supreme
Court's Judgments in various cases. It is laudable that the
same principle of One Rank One
Pension has been upheld by the
Supreme Court in respect of those serving in the Defence
Forces, the modalities for implementation of which are
being worked out by the GOI. Grant some interim relief,
say, 50% of the potential increase in the ensuing wage settlements (pay
+ DA ranked for Gross Pension) to he Pensioners to enable them
to lead a better life in sync with those who have retired
post-November 2007.
We also earnestly urge the
United Forum to vigorously pursue this demand for some
interim arrangements with the RBI'sManagement, which, we believe,
is entirely within their purview/powers. We are sure that our brethren
from N. Delhi Office - retired as well as
serving employees - will, as usual, rise to the occasion by presenting our
case before the RBI Board.
We earnestly appeal to Hon’ble
Governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan and the Central Board of
Directors through this column totake up this matter in their
ensuing meeting at New Delhi on 23rd March 2015 when the Union
Finance Minister, Hon’ble Shri Arun Jaitelyji, besides Secretaries
of the Ministry of Finance, will be present. ---EDITOR HITGUJ 15 MARCH, 2015 ISSUE MONTHLY
NEWS FROM CENTRES
Nagpur
Kochi
Chennai
The 16th Annual Get-together
of Reserve Bank of India Retired Employees Association was held
on 31st January 2015. Shri P K Jena, CGM, Nagpur Office,
was the Chief Guest and Sarvashri A P Kale, our
Vice-President, and L V Kulkarni, Secretary, A.I.R.B.R.E.
Association, as also of Pune unit, were the Special Invitees. It may
be recalled that both these officebearers are the petitioners of the
writ petition filed in the
Bombay High Court against the
Bank withdrawing the updation given to pre-November
1997 pensioners. Over 350 members attended the function.
Twenty-three retirees, who
had completed 75 years, along
with their spouses were felicitated at the hands of
the guests on the occasion.
Shri V P Gharote, Nagpur
Secretary and All India Vice-President, welcomed the
audience. He referred to
the Governor's talk with our
Kolkata and other units from which it was clear that he was serious
about giving updation to the retirees on a permanent basis. Shri Kale mentioned that the Nagpur unit of AIRBRE
Association was one of the best organized units adding that
Pune unit did not lag behind. Shri Kulkarni explained the reasons
for going to the Court in the writ petition filed by them which
has brought relief to the concerned pensioners.
The Kochi unit of the
Association is doing a commendable job of fulfilling social
obligations of its members. It is engaging its members to get involved in
providing financial help for medical care, etc., to needy and
marginalised old persons who do not
have sufficient means to
support themselves. Recently it collected a sum of Rs.
1,00,001/- from its members and donated it to Jeremiah's Home,
a palliative care centre at Chengamanad. It has started
Prathyasa Lifeline Fund for such purposes. A Special General
Meeting of the Association held on 5 February 2015 adopted
necessary Rules and Regulations in this regard.
The 6th Annual Get Together of
RBI CHENNAI FRIENDS was held on Saturday the 21st February
2015 at Egmore in Chennai.
The program commenced at 10.15
a.m. with an invocation song from Sri S. Madhavan. The
event was compered by Smt. Eazhisalivall in chaste Tamil. In her welcome address, Smt.
Jayalakshmi Chandrasekaran explained at length the
significance of friendship, the
difficulties people experience
in their post retired period, the need for personally meeting
friends and the benefits one can derive in doing so, etc. It
was followed by cultural programme by the members of the Group.
Arrangements were made at the
venue to disburse fresh notes and coins in exchange to the
members of the group by HDFC Bank. We thank the General
Manager of Issue Dept., RBI, Chennai and the HDFC Manager
and staff for rendering this service.
All the members expressed
their heartfelt thanks for organising such an event and said that
they would cherish the experience and draw strength and happiness
from the sweet memories. With bright faces and hearts
brimming with love members were seen leaving the hall holding the
hands of their friends .
RELEASE OF MEMBERSHIP
DIRECTORY
The Forum of Retired Employees
of RBI, Chennai, published a Membership Directory
containing very useful information whichwas released by the Regional
Director Dr. J Sadakkadulla, on 12th January 2015 at a large
gathering of retirees and officials. The first copy was received by Com. A
Natarajan, a veteran leader of the trade union movement in RBI
and founder President of the Forum. Apart from publishing the
names, photographs and contact details of over 1,000 members, the Directory has included
the details of the medical
facilities available to the retirees, the list of approved hospitals by TPA for
cashless hospitalization, lists of VOF's and Transit Holiday
Homes at various centres. It is indeed an ideal reference book for
the retirees.
MAIN BUILDING DISPENSARY
REFURBISHED
For years, Bank's Main
Building dispensary was located on the Mezzanine floor. Withe passage
of time and increase in number of patients visiting
the dispensary, the premises had become inadequate for the
attending doctors and staff. The place was all inadequate to
store medicines and other medical equipment. The waiting
hall was also very small to accommodate visitors. Shri H R Khan, Dy. Governor,
took personal interest in the
matter and provided convenient and sufficient space on the ground
floor of Amar Building. Now the dispensary is situated in new
and spacious premises with
elegant interior. For retirees
there is an added advantage; they are now not required to take
the circuitous route through Banking Hall to reach the
dispensary.
All this was possible because
of positive attitude of the Dy. Governor, Shri H R Khan. Shri
T G Nair has written to Governor bringing to his notice the
initiative shown by Shri H R Khan, but for which issue could not have
been resolved. Shri Nair, in his
letter, has added that the Dy.
Governor is known for his good work for the staff which was
particularly witnessed when he was the Principal of C.A.B., Pune.
We understand that Governor
was pleased to read such commendation for his Dy.
Governor from our Association and has congratulated him for the
same.
MAY GOLD TURN INTO DIAMOND
-----------------------------------------------------------
We wish our Member - Shri P R
Jangid, Retd. AGM, who has completed 60 years of his
married life on 28th January 2015.
Hearty congratulations to Smt.
and Shri Jangid for achieving this landmark in their married
life.
Smt. & Dr. T N
Srivastava, Retd. CGM (Core Faculty, BTC), celebrated their golden
wedding anniversary on 20th Februar 2015. Hearty congratulations
to them too.
We thank, from bottom of our
hearts, Smt. Sangeeta D Bhiwandkar, Retd. S.O. Gr. A,
Punching Section, DESACS, and her spouse Shri Drupendra, for
their Donation of Rs. 5,000/- to the Association on the
occasion of their golden wedding
anniversary on 13th February
2015.
We wish all the three couples
many more years of healthy, happy and contented married life
ahead.
ENHANCEMENT IN ANNUAL HEALTH
CHECK-UP AMOUNT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We are happy to announce that the
Bank has decided to enhance the consolidated
amount paid towards 'Annual Health Check-up' to all retired
employees, for self / spouse, who are members of MAF Scheme, on an
annual basis, as under:
Class IV – Rs. 3, 900/-; Class
III – Rs. 4,550/-; Officers in Grade
A, B & C – Rs.
5,850/-; Officers in Grade D, E & F – Rs. 6,500/-.
The revised rates will be
applicable with
effect from 1st July 2015 and would be paid to the
eligible retired employees by credit to their accounts. We thank the
Bank for enhancing the Annual Health Check-up charges.
EXTRACTS by R.B.KISHORE,VP,AIRIEF 16/ 3 /2015
R.B.KISHORE,VP,AIRIEFED(Retd),LIC,PROBUS LIFE MEMBER,
044-28155810 / 098403 40591
