The staff and officers in the banking sector owing allegiance various unions have decided to chalk out a common programme of action (CPA).
The initiative for creation of a common platform has come from the National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE). P Lakshminarasaiah, general secretary of NCBE, said the confederation has convened a core group meeting of two to three representatives of all trade union leaders of workmen and officers of the industry on Feb 14 in Mumbai. Soutces said the response to the initiative is overwhelming and the date and time has been fixed after discussions with various leaders and to suit their convenience.
Confirming the participation of Aiboc, the apex body of bank officers unions in the proposed meeting, a senior leader said: We find the move worth exploring. If coalition politics could bring 13 outfits of divergent ideologies together, why not try the same common minimum approach to unite trade unions operating in an industry,? he asked. If only workmen and officers unions were to have a common bond, the agonising experience that we went through during the last wage negotiations would not have taken place, he added.
Without going into the none-too-happy developments that have taken place in the recent past, I am taking this initiative to bring all of us together for a common programme of action, Lakshminarasaiah said, in his personal letter inviting leaders of various trade unions in the industry.
The areas for common action programme identified are non-implementation of pension settlement in private sector banks, restriction on recruitment, virtual ban on compassionate appointments, bonus to all, extension of sixth bipartite settlement to regional rural bank employees and officers, licensing of local area banks, and wage freeze that stares in the eyes of many loss-making nationalised banks like the Uco bank.
Based on the first meeting of Feb 14, we may set up a core group to draw up plans to provide institutional framework for the federal set up for the entire banking industry, said a trade union leader.
He added that a sort of confederation structure may come up to accommodate both officers' and workmen's trade unions under one umbrella, to be bound by a common minimum programme.