Dream Of 5 Days Week Shattered

Bankers' Dream of 5 Day Working Shattered-By Sri Rajesh Goyal

I have been receiving reports for over a week now that new Government at the Centre is mulling with the idea of reverting to six days week or at least tweaking with the current working hours enjoyed by government employees.   I have restrained about writing on the issue as I would have been dubbed as pessimistic and I was hoping that it will remain as a rumor only.    However, today (5th June, 2014) the report in ET (New Regime Plans to Increase Working Hours) clearly indicates that reports we have received earlier were not without substance.

ET report is a major blow to Dream of Bankers for 5 Day Working in Banks.   We know that 5 day working was introduced in Central Government almost 30 years back during Rajiv Gandhi regime.  At that time I had served only for five years in bank.   We kept on dreaming for next 25 years that some day 5 day banking  will be introduced in banks too.   However, no union leaders took it seriously and  I and number of my colleagues have retired.    I still remember, in earlier days we were told that India can not be compared to western countries of 5 day banking as they have lot of ATMs and thus general public is not affected by closure of banking on Saturdays.   However, it was not a convincing argument yet I thought that whenever India will have fairly good number of ATMs, we will be able to have 5 day week at least for the next generation of bankers.   This never happened though last decade have seen mushrooming of ATMs across India.

Our readers are well aware that in my several articles, I have advised our UFBU leaders to delink this issue from wage revision as it had nothing common with wage revision.   However,  UFBU has always tried to link it with wage revision so as to befool the cadres as it was an emotive issue.    Even in the last meeting of negotiations held on 14th March 2014,  instead of discussing the increase in salaries,  their main agenda was to raise this emotive issue.   UFBU circular of the date  starts to read as  “Carrying forward the discussions held in the last round of talks, some of the important issues like introduction of 5 day Banking, regulated working hours for officers etc. were discussed further.   While appreciating our viewpoints, IBA wanted further inputs from the Unions in order to examine the issues and to take up the matter with higher authorities”. 

With a single stroke of the above ET report, now UFBU leaders will have no face to raise this issue as nobody in the IBA will even like to take this matter to higher authorities, let alone convince GoI officials to agree to such a proposal.  With much stronger government at the centre and Left parties trying to save their face, who will have the guts in IBA / UFBU to take this issue seriously in the forthcoming meetings?   Thus, the wrong strategy on the part of the UFBU has resulted in neither focusing on 5 days week nor on honourable rise in salary for the bankers.

Thus, I feel that for the time being the dream of bankers for 5 days week is shattered and UFBU needs to focus on core issue to bring bankers at par with the salaries of the central government.   If still they do not understand these basics of negotiations, then Aam Bankers may teach them a lesson in days to come by mass exodus from these old and tired unions.  The issue of 5 days working should be discussed only after completion of 10th BPS negotiations. 

Source allbankingsolutions.com

Longer working hours for bureaucrats likely

Bharti Jain,Times of India| Jun 5, 2014

NEW DELHI: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi setting a hectic pace for his ministers, babudom is abuzz with talk of a possible review of working hours for central government offices as well.

Though department of personnel and training (DoPT) officials on Wednesday said no formal proposal for longer working hours or a return to six-day week had been moved, they felt that given that most ministers were keeping longer hours and also working on Saturdays, senior bureaucrats and other staff may be asked to put in longer hours to assist them.

A DoPT official said debate about the desirability of restructuring the working hours may start if the political leadership so desires.

Political sources, however, said no proposal to extend either working hours or switch to a six-day week has even been mooted so far. It was former PM Rajiv Gandhi who started the five-day week. However, bureaucrats have been making frantic calls to their contacts in DoPT to confirm if reports of a possible corporatization of government departments, complete with longer working hours, were indeed true.

Interestingly, Gujarat government office timings stretch from 10.30 am to 6.10 pm, with the second and fourth Saturdays being off, along with Sundays.

With Modi having given clear directions to his ministers to show results that will set apart the NDA government from the "lacklustre and non-performing" UPA regime, the ministers are already clocking longer hours, setting a time-bound agenda for delivery.

This has made it imperative for secretaries, joint secretaries and their staff to remain in office to assist the minister. Central government offices at present have 40 working hours per week, with Saturday and Sunday being off days.

Link times of India

Longer in Office

AMAN SHARMA

NEW DELHI





Tough questions form part of new PM's plan to vet performance of top bureaucrats

How good are you -and how much do you work? The Narendra Modi government is asking these questions of senior bureaucrats and planning to put in a new appraisal and working hour system. Bureaucrats are being quietly appraised on parameters like their project delivery record, neutrality and dedication to work -plus, the Narendra Modi government is set to change a 29-year-old rule instituted by the Rajiv Gandhi government to ensure government officials put in more hours at work.At least two senior officials in know of the developments have told either by making each Saturday or alternate Saturdays a working day or sticking to the 5-day week system but extending the daily work hours on the five working days from 8 AM to 6 PM or even 8 AM to 8 PM,“ one senior official said, not willing to be identified. “An alternative could be to stick to the 5-day week system but extend the daily work hours on the five working days from 8 am to 6 pm or even 8 am to 8 pm.
The matter is being discussed,“ the official added.At present, the working hours for central government officials, as per an order issued in 1985, are 9 am to 5 am with a 30-minute lunch break and each weekend being off.Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Personnel, Jitendra Singh, said he would not reveal if any move was afoot to increase the working hours for bureaucrats. “There is no official circular by us yet. If something is issued, we will duly inform you from the Prime Minister's Office,“ Singh told ET.
A silent appraisal of top bureaucrats is also on that could be the basis for a reshuffle in secretary-level and other senior positions soon. An official of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) aware of this exercise said bureaucrats are being assessed on four parameters: Past performance, quickness of delivery , dedication to work and neutrality. “Past performance of a period of over a decade is being taken into consideration as well as achievements specific to quick delivery of targets. Dedication to work is a key parameter and bureaucrats devoting time to hanging out at clubs or page 3 activities may find themselves out in the cold in this government,” this official told ET.
“Neutrality or political non-allegiance” is another key factor being analysed for bureaucrats who are holding senior positions in the government, the official quoted earlier said. Many bureaucrats right now in secretary-level and other senior positions are perceived to be close to the erstwhile UPA government since it was in power for the last decade and had appointed all of them to these posts.
Modi has met all secretaries to the governmen on Wednesday evening to lay out a policy map for the bureaucracy.
“What is being checked is whether the bureaucrat is neutral in his work and does not let his political preferences cloud his decision-making activity,” an official said. Modi himself works nearly 18 hours a day and his “I-mean-Business” approach is already percolating down the bureaucracy with most secretaries and other senior officials arriving in their offices sharp by 9 am and working late till 8 pm these days, very much like the new ministers. The changeover from a 6-day week to a 5-day week happened in 1985 – an initiative by the then prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi.
A May 21, 1985 order had stressed a 5-day week was important for “improving the efficiency of the administration.”