Lfc Freeze May Be Relaxed For Banks

The finance ministry may relax the two-year freeze on leave fare concession (LFC) for state-run banks, even as Syndicate Bank and United Bank of India (UBI) have gone ahead and suspended it for their employees for two years. Although no formal communication has reached the banks to this effect, the banking division of the finance ministry has informally asked the public sector banks (PSBs) to go slow on the issue.

Unlike government departments as well as Life Insurance Corpora- tion, General Insurance Corporation and its four former subsidiaries where LFC is part of the salary and can be suspended, in the banking industry LFC is part of a wage award settled at a bipartite level. It cannot be suspended unilaterally.

Any move in this regard could constitute breach of the bipartite agreements signed under the Industrial Disputes Act (IDA) and the Desai Award between the employees