The Hindu Business Line : Trade unions aim for closer ties in financial sector

A UNITED front of trade unions in the banking sector proposes to meet up with the Chairman of a Parliamentary Standing Committee to make a presentation against the purported move to reduce Government's share in banks below 51 per cent.

Mr Shantha Raju, General Secretary of the All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC), told Business Line that the single-most challenging task before the unions was to ensure that public sector banks retained their status.

"A standing committee has been asked to study all related issues in detail, including amendments to Acts such as the Banking Regulation Act. So our immediate task will be to meet up with the Chairman of this committee," Mr Raju said.

One other issue engaging the attention of the unions is how to strengthen the trade union movement, especially in the financial sector. "Today there are attempts to de-unionise the workforce in the financial sector. This is a big challenge. This can be addressed only if we stand together. So we are trying to achieve broader unity among employees in the larger financial sector. Already we have formed an All-India Coordination Committee of Unions in the Financial Sector.

"Now, when we are coming together, we're definitely going to take a view on various issues, including amendment to the Trade Union Act seeking to legitimise a ballot system prior to declaring a strike as also the one stipulating a minimum strength for any trade union to earn recognition. We will also concretise our response to the amendment to the hire and fire policy contained in the Industrial Disputes Act."

The unions have been trying to prevail on the Government to ratify the Geneva Convention with respect to extending trade unions rights to the officer cadres as well. But the Indian Government has not yet ratified this convention.

Another major focus of the unions will be the glitch in the framework drawn up for social equity programmes. Welfare measures are now being withdrawn one by one, in the name of cutting costs.

The conclusions reached by the National Labour Commission that it's not anymore the Government's burden to vest precious funds on social welfare measures and instead these would have to be subscribed by workers themselves has only added to the confusion.

"At present, the economic lot of the Indian worker has not improved to a level that affords him to subscribe to such a programme. Even in the US, subsidies are more the rule than exception. This is another big challenge facing banks and the larger financial sector in the country," Mr Raju said.

India is not a developed country to leave its banking industry to the whims and fancies of market forces. This is what has prompted the unions to launch a supportive public awareness campaign on their own in this regard.

The AIBOC has decided to set up independent committees separately for the States of Tamil Nadu and Kerala where a slew of well-doing old private sector banks are being looked at as takeover targets by marauding MNC banks.

"There is a real threat to the continued existence of these small but fundamentally strong banks in which even the respective State Governments have considerable stakes. We are trying to involve these Governments also as the commissions get down to work," Mr Raju said.

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