Future OF 10th Bipartite in Bank

10TH. BPS. IS IT GOING TO END UP BY BEING ‘MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING’ THIS TIME ALSO??

Amidst all those ruckus on 10th B.P.S. one thing which intrigue me very much, is, ‘is this hullabaloo and crystal ball gazing on impending changes in pay structure and service conditions of approximately 8 lacs of bank employees worth all the hoo-hah?? Though, I fear to be branded as a doomsayer, I cannot stop being a little bit pessimistic and see all those proving to be mere whimper and coming out as ‘much ado about nothing’.

Let us go through one  page of  my doomsday book:

• Bank employees take immense pride in declaring that, they negotiate their own service conditions over the table, through bipartite negotiations. Tall claim huh? After going through all these rigmaroles and pay cuts and jaw clenching,the baby produced is a skinny midget, a  mere 17.5% hike and that too with all sort of fine print and caveats.

• Bank employees take solace from the fact that, 100% and 75% hospitalization reimbursement is doled out to them. But, in practice, subheads with paltry ceilings have been imposed and the reimbursement percentages are calculated on them.For instance, Rs525 per day,was the ceiling on ‘bed charges’ admissible for reimbursements to family members of bank employees, in case of hospitalization,in 9th bipartite. Now, the moot question is this, can anybody find  any neat and clean and properly equipped nursing home/hospital, prepared to lend it’s room at this paltry charge? But, need not worry, look into the stat of 75% of reimbursement deal for kith and kin of bank employees clinched, is this not enough to be happy and continue greasing palms of union leaders?

Let us rotate our head a bit to take note of happenings around.

• Workers negotiating wage settlements at Hero Motorcorp, have submitted a charter for doubling of their pay from what they are getting at present, to almost 1lac per month.This is apart from other benefits like subsidized housing as well as interest free loans running up to Rs 10 lakh. If met, the shop floor workers at the bike major will perhaps be the highest paid in the auto industry and even among other manufacturing units.Though, it is not clear whether company managements are in any mood to relent. But, it is also true, if you go applying for a canon, you might end up in getting a revolver. But, bank employees’ unions start their negotiations hoping for a knife blade and end up in getting none better than a safety pin, as evidenced in their clinching a paltry gain of 17.5% in 9th bipartite and there too, major portion of arrears were dangled before bank employees, before being whisked away in the name of cost of opting for pension as second benefit.In this regard, it would not be out of place to reiterate that, an experienced shop floor worker at Hero Motor Corp has a CTC to the company of Rs 45000 per month with  lot of freebies like, housing loans up to Rs600000 at a 4% nominal rate of interest.Though, the list goes on and on but,citing should be kept minimum, lest, it would make bank employees morose as their hard earned gains through bipartite seem to be pea nuts.(Inputs from Times Of India dated 08-02-2013

• Bank employees’ unions boastfully sermonize that, bank employees should remain contented with what they are getting and remain obliged to their great leaders that, in spite of myriad of adversities like,global currency crisis, double digit inflation, political uncertainty, border shootouts, global warming's  etc, they managed to give something to their hungry mouths. After all, bank employees, particularly, in the nationalized domain, should give priority to their country and the world at large, before according priority to their own self interests.Indeed, this baronial outlook for the benefit of mankind deserve a collective Nobel prize for the ‘bank union leaders’ fraternity of this country and the Nobel  prize organizing committee, should give a glance to this segment before picking contenders from economist, physicists, human right activists etc.

So, the message is loud and clear, though, there is no harm in yelling ‘NETAJI KI JAI’  bank employees, even at the grass root level,would do well by turning  proactive and keeping  a tab on the progress of 10th bipartite negotiations, this time too, the entire exercise might end up as ‘much ado about nothing’ and bank employees licking their wounds after sacrificing much of their hard won rights for paltry gains. So, bank employees of this country, would do well by staying wide awake and regularly visiting ‘musings of life’, ‘all banking solutions’ and blogs of Sri Danendra Jain etc. for much needed inputs on on going attempts at shaping your destiny, through 10th BPS.

Message for Netajis of all hue and colour, if you want to hear ‘NETAJI KI JAI’ from lacs of bank employees on continuous basis and even after 10th BPS.please keep the famous quote from Nelson Mandela, in mind:

“It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership”.

Posted BY

Posted by: Himadri Shekhar Bhattacharjee.

BCOM(Hons.),CAIIB,DMFM,DTIRM,NCFM(MFund.), NCFM(Depository), NISM(Depository), CFP(Finalist).

E Mail:roamester@gmail.co