Suggested Charter OF Demand For XI Bipartite Settlement

Eleventh Bipartite Settlement – By Pannvalan
Pay Scales to be Demanded

We are all aware that the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance has set the ball rolling for commencement of 11th BPS and they have issued a notification to all the banks that are part of the process, advising them to complete the whole process well before the due date i.e. 1st November, 2017.

So, I have now been tempted to initiate the process, by making these suggestions.

Before proceeding further, we must remember that the implementation of new pay scales for central government employees under 7th CPC is already under way.  Their new pay scales are expected to be implemented with effect from 1st January, 2016.

Their new basic pay is expected to vary from 2.57 to 2.78 times their present pay.

Even at the pre-revised level (i.e. 6th CPC level), their Basic Pay is higher than the revised Basic Pay of the bank staff, after 10th BPS.

Alright, let us now proceed to arrive at the new Basic Pay to be fixed in 11th BPS.

Assumptions:

1. The average All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial workers (Base: 1960=100) is expected to be at 6777 for the quarter ending 30th September, 2017 (assuming that the annual inflation will be 6% for the next 2 years).
2. Accordingly, the DA as on 31-10-2017 on the exiting basic pay will be at 58.40%.
3. Unlike last time, it is expected that the full amount of D.A. outstanding as on 31.10.2017 will be merged, as is being done in the case of Central Government Employees.
4. So, the whole D.A. at 58.40% will be merged with the existing basic pay, at the time of next wage revision.
5. Then, the Special Allowance with applicable D.A. thereon (introduced in 10th BPS) is also to be merged with the existing basic pay.
6. Then, on this amount, an increase of 40% (additional load factor) is given and fixed as the revised Basic Pay. It is then rounded off to the next higher 100.

Now, let us see how much it translates to, so as to arrive at the revised Basic Pay for each staff, depending on his cadre/grade.  Variation occurs here, only because of the difference in the rates of Special Allowance fixed for officers in different grades and scales.

(Amount in Rupees)

S No	Components of Revised Basic Pay	Sub-staff to Officer MMGS III	Officer SMGS IV & SMGS V	Officer TEGS VI & TEGS VII
1	Present Basic Pay (Notional)	100.00	100.00	100.00
2	Special Allowance as per 10th BPS (excluding D.A. thereon)	7.75	10.00	11.00
3	Total of (1) and (2) above	107.75	110.00	111.00
4	D.A. as on 31.10.2017 (Projected) calculated on (3) above	62.93	64.24	64.82
5	Total of (3) and (4) above	170.68	174.24	175.82
6	Revised Basic Pay, after adding 40% additional load on (5) above	238.95	243.94	246.15

S No	Rank/Grade	Existing Basic Pay (Rupees)		Revised Basic Pay (Rupees)		Annual Increment – New (Rupees)
		Starting	Closing	Starting	Closing
1	Sub-staff	9560	18545	24000	44200	900/8  - 1100/8 - 1400/3
2	Clerk	11765	31540	30000	68900	1500/3 – 1900/8 – 2400/8
3	Officer – JMGS I	23700	42020	57000	104100	2400/7 – 2900/2 – 3500/7
4	Officer – MMGS II	31705	45950	73800	111100	2900/2 – 3500/9
5	Officer – MMGS III	42020	51490	97100	123000	3500/5 - 4200/2
6	Officer – SMGS IV	50030	59170	114600	141400	4200/4 - 5000/2
7	Officer – SMGS V	59170	66070	131400	153400	5000/2 – 6000/2
8	Top Executive – TEG VI	68680	76520	159400	185800	6000/2 – 7200/2
9	Top Executive – TEG VII	76520	85000	185800	217000	7200/2 – 8400/2

Note:

1. The new Basic Pay is arrived, by multiplying the present Basic Pay by the factor as stated above.
2. Then, the new basic pay so arrived at is raised to the next higher 100 Rupees.
3. This figure will be the new Basic Pay.
4. The Basic Pay mentioned above is exclusive of the Stagnation Increments, wherever applicable.
5. Amount of new increment is slightly lower than 4% of the revised Basic Pay at each stage.
6. It must be noted that even the revised Basic Pay at this level is far below the proposed Basic Pay of the Central Government staff, as per 7th CPC.
7. Since the entire D.A. outstanding as on 31.10.2017 is to be merged with the existing Basic Pay, the new D.A. as on 01.11.2017 will be ‘Nil’.
8. Therefore, we are fully justified in demanding the revised Basic Pay at this level and we need not feel guilty that our demand may sound unreasonable, impractical and excessive.
9. Unless we convince ourselves regarding the justification in our demands, we cannot go the bargaining table with total confidence.  This we must remember.

Some Important Points

1. Already we are far behind the central government employees in pay and perks and if we fail to bridge the gap between them and us at the time of 11th BPS, the gap will keep on widening further and further, with each wage revision.
2. Already the bank jobs have lost their charm, for the highly qualified and meritorious candidates and the attrition rate is also very high as compared to any other sector or industry.
3. Moreover, we must remember that nearly 40% of the existing staff in the banking industry retire in the normal course (on attaining the age of superannuation), in the next 4 years.  The exodus will be like a deluge between 2018 and 2020.
4. With the recruitment not taking place at the desired levels, the staff position will only deteriorate, with the indiscriminate branch expansion by all banks in general and public sector banks in particular.  With the introduction of new products every now and then, the situation will turn precarious.
5. Therefore, unless we make the bank job a more lucrative and interesting profession, banks especially in the public sector cannot attract good talent and retain it.
6. If the revised basic pay is not at the level projected hereinabove, it will only reflect upon our weak bargaining power and the inability of our union leaders to feel the pulse of the staff especially those in the public sector banks.
7. If we cannot achieve revision as projected here, we must demand CPC scales or a separate Banking Pay Commission. For that to happen, disbanding of UFBU is a sine qua non.

Date: 14-01-2016                                                                                                                       pannvalan

 11th BPS - Population Group - New Classification Proposed

It is proposed to reclassify the places/centres, according to the latest population figures of such places/centres.  It is as follows.

S No	Population of the Place/Centre	Classification
1	Up to 50,000	Rural
2	50,001 to 200,000	Semi-Urban
3	200,001 to 20,00,000	Urban
4	20,00,001 to 50,00,000	Metropolitan
5	Above 50 Lakhs	Megalopolis

H.R.A. Payable on the basis of Population Groups

S No	Population of the Place/Centre	H.R.A. Payable (as % of Basic Pay plus other allowances ranking for P.F.)
1	Up to 50,000	7.00
2	50,001 to 200,000	8.00
3	200,001 to 20,00,000	9.00
4	20,00,001 to 50,00,000	10.00
5	Above 50 Lakhs	12.00

                           Note:  There is no ceiling on the HRA Amount payable.

C.C.A. Payable on the basis of Population Groups

S No	Population of the Place/Centre	C.C.A. Payable (as % of Basic Pay plus other allowances ranking for P.F.)
1	500,001 to 15,00,000	5.00
2	15,00,001 to 50,00,000	6.00
3	Above 50 Lakhs	8.00

                                 Note:  There is no ceiling on the CCA Amount payable.

Hill Allowance Payable on the basis of the Altitude of the Place

S No	Altitude of the Place/Centre (in Metres)	Hill Allowance Payable (as % of Basic Pay plus other allowances ranking for P.F.)
1	1500 to 3000	4.00
2	3001 to 6000	6.00
3	Above 6000	10.00

                                 Note:  There is no ceiling on the Hill Allowance payable.

Date: 14-01-2016                                                                                   pannvalan

Eleventh Bipartite Settlement – Charter of Demands of Officers on Other Allowances

Allowance	EXISTING	REVISED
D. A.	0.10% per slab on the pre-revised basic pay	0.07% per slab on the revised basic pay
H.R.A.	7%/ 8%/ 9% of the present basic pay depending on the population group	7% to 12% of the revised basic pay depending on the revised classification of the centres   (please see attachment for further details), without any ceiling
C.C.A.	3% for lower CCA centres and 4% for higher CCA centres with a maximum of Rs.600 and Rs.870 respectively.	5%  to 8% of the revised basic pay depending on the revised classification of the centres  (please see attachment for further details), without any ceiling
PQP - 1	Rs.670	Equal to one increment in the last stage of the scale
PQP - 2	Rs.1,680	Equal to 2 increments in the last stage of the scale
FPP	In case of FPP, the current FPP is protected and on promotion to the next higher grade/scale only, on reaching the maximum of the scale, FPP equivalent to the last increment in the scale is granted with DA thereon, basing on the index prevailing at the beginning of the settlement period (01-11-2012). This will remain frozen till the settlement period ends.	FPP is proposed to be fixed at the amount equal to the previous   increment drawn plus DA thereon, basing on the index prevailing at the beginning of the settlement period (01-11-2012). This way, the anomaly in FPP will vanish. On reaching the maximum of the scale, FPP equal to one increment in the last stage of the revised scale plus DA (as on 01-11-2012) thereon is granted.  This will remain frozen till the settlement period ends.
Medical Aid	Up to MMGS III -          Rs.8,000 SMGS IV and above – Rs.9,050	Up to MMGS III          - Rs.12,000   SMGS IV and above – Rs.15,000
LFC – Home Town	Frequency – Once in the sub-block of 2 years, in the main block of every 4 years.  Effectively, it is once every 4 years only.  Distance - There is no restriction on the distance between the present place of work and the home town.	If the distance between the place of work and the home town is 500 KMs and above, home town LFC is permitted every year. Otherwise, no home town LFC is allowed.
LFC – Anywhere in India	Distance – Without restriction on the distance, any place in India can be reached by the shortest route and eligible mode of travel. But, the place of destination must be mentioned beforehand and such place must be touched, even if a roundabout journey is undertaken. (Reimbursement will however be restricted to the distance by the shortest railway route by the eligible class).	4500 KMs one way for officers up to MMGS III and 6000 KMs one way for SMGS IV and above (It is not compulsory to touch the intended destination).   Circuitous journey is also allowed within the overall distance (both ways) of 9000 KMs/12000 KMs as the case may be. Within the overall eligibility, expenditure on travel to foreign countries may also be reimbursed, provided proper proof is submitted.
Halting Allowance	Up to MMGS III – Rs.800/Rs.950/Rs.1,100/Rs.1,300 SMGS IV & SMGS V – Rs.950/Rs.1,100/Rs.1,300/Rs.1,500 TEGS VI & TEGS VII – Rs.950/Rs.1,100/Rs.1,300/Rs.1,800	Up to MMGS III – Rs.1,000/Rs.1,200/Rs.1,400/Rs.1,600 SMGS IV & SMGS V – Rs.1,200/Rs.1,400/Rs.1,600/Rs.1,800 TEGS VI & TEGS VII – Rs.1,200/Rs.1,400/Rs.1,600/Rs.2,000
Split Duty Allowance	Rs.200 per month	Rs.400 per month.

Date: 14-01-2016                                                                                                             pannvalan

Charter of Demands for Eleventh Bipartite Settlement

-----------------------Other than Pay and Allowances--By Pannvalan

REGULATION OF WORKING HOURS

1. Working Hours shall not exceed 40 hours per week and 8 hours per day (which does not include lunch break of 30 minutes duration).
2. All Saturdays will be holidays. In other words, banks will work only on 5 days in a week.
3. All double sessional offices must be converted into single sessional offices in phases.
4. In case of bigger cities – ‘A’ Class cities and Metros – banks may have staggering business hours.  They may start functioning between 8-00 AM and 10-30 AM and will have customer transactions for not less than 5 hours a day.
5. Including pre-lunch and post-lunch business hours and lunch interval, the total number of hours a staff is required to be physically present at the branch/office and on outside duty shall never exceed 9 hours a day.
6. If a staff member (Award Staff/Officer) is made to work beyond the stipulated time, additional amount of compensation calculated in a fair, reasonable and equitable manner must be paid in cash.
7. In case many staff members are advised to sit late quite often, it must be recorded.  
8. If staff members are required to work for late hours on a regular basis, arrangements must be made to notify and fill the additional vacancies of permanent nature within 6 months period.
9. Staggering of duty hours may be effected with 15 days advance notice to the staff concerned.
10. Any changes in the daily working schedule shall be through written office order only.  Oral instructions issued in this regard will not bind the staff concerned.
11. There shall be fair play, non-partisan behavior and transparency on the part of the branch head/immediate superior in every staff-related issue.

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

1. ‘5 day week’ is to be implemented within a specific time frame, but not exceeding 6 months from the date of the settlement.
2. Number of Public Holidays under N.I. Act at present varies from state to state.  It is proposed to fix it at 8 (Eight) uniformly throughout the country.
3. In addition, 4 optional/restricted holidays on notified festival days (national/state/local) may be given.  
4. However, this is subject to the proviso that more than 1 optional/restricted holiday cannot be allowed to a person, in a month.   Rules governing Casual Leave will apply to ‘optional/restricted holidays’ too.
5. No staff must be forced to work for more than 7 calendar days continuously, under any circumstances.
6. In case a staff member is forced to work on a Sunday/Public Holiday, compensatory off must be given within 30 days.  This is in addition to the monetary compensation payable.

LEAVE PROVISIONS

1. Casual Leave up to 1 day shall be permitted to be availed without prior sanction.  Nonetheless, prior intimation is needed.  Prior intimation may be through email and also SMS to the mobile phone of the leave sanctioning authority.
2. Sick Leave not availed at the end of each year will be credited to the Privilege Leave account automatically, without the staff asking for it.
3. Privilege Leave must be allowed to be accumulated up to 300 days.
4. Privilege Leave accumulated above the maximum of 300 days must be allowed to be encashed, without linking it to L.F.C (availment/encashment).
5. At the time of retirement, encashment of PL up to 300 days is to be allowed and it is to be totally tax free, on the lines of the same facility available for central government employees.
6. For this purpose, superannuation or VRS under pension regulations after putting in a minimum service of 20 years shall be treated alike.

HEALTH

7. Health Insurance premium for the serving personnel aged 50 years and above must be borne by the individual banks.  Ceiling for each staff will depend on his/her rank/grade.
8. No upfront payment must be demanded at the time of treatment. It must be 100% ‘cashless treatment’ in its true sense.  No sub-limits must be stipulated.
9. Even for out-patient treatment, tie-up with good hospitals nationwide must be established for the staff in service and also those who have retired.
10. For all retired personnel – retired on superannuation, VRS or CRS – health insurance premium must be remitted by the banks in which they served.

LOANS ON CONCESSIONAL RATES OF INTEREST

11. For staff children, rate of interest on education loans must be brought down uniformly to 6% p.a. up to the priority sector ceiling.  Beyond that level, 3% extra interest may be collected.  The entire interest payable on Education Loans must be simple, till the originally fixed due date of the loan.
12. Interest on Vehicle Loans shall not exceed Base Rate minus 1% (Simple).
13. Interest on Staff Housing Loans must be 6% p.a. (simple).
14. After the housing loan is fully repaid, second housing loan may be given, provided at least two thirds of the first housing loan repayment period has elapsed.  Another condition is the amount of first and second housing loans put together shall not exceed Rs.30 Lakhs for Sub-staff, Rs.40 Lakhs for Clerks and Rs.50 Lakhs for Officers.
15. Repayment period for different loans may be fixed as follows:

1. Vehicle Loan – 2 Wheeler – 84 months or until the date of retirement whichever is earlier.
2. Vehicle Loan – 4 Wheeler – 180 months or until the date of retirement whichever is earlier.
3. Housing Loan – 300 Months or until the staff attains 70 years of age whichever is earlier.
4. Staff Children’s Education Loan – 60 months for inland studies and 96 months for studies abroad, excluding the period of study and gestation.
5. If the interest on education loans of staff children is serviced during the period of moratorium, a further concession of 0.5% p.a. in the interest is to be allowed.

TRANSFERS

16. Transfer shall ever used as a weapon to threaten the staff and to punish the honest and dedicated staff, due to ego conflicts or any other inexplicable reasons (vague reasons like ‘exigencies of service’ or ‘transfer is the prerogative of the management’ etc.).
17. Sub-staff can be transferred every 10 years, provided the distance between their place of domicile and the new place of posting is not more than 200 KMs in the same linguistic area.
18. Clerical staff can be transferred every 10 years provided the distance between their place of domicile and the new place of posting is not more than 300 KMs in the same linguistic area.
19. But any transfer exercise must be a regular one, not restricted to a particular area/Zone and a select few individuals. This condition will not apply to transfers made on the grounds of major misconduct like frauds, financial impropriety etc.  
20. However, if the charges made cannot be proved within 12 months, the transfer made will become null and void and the management is duty bound to transfer the employee/officer to his previous place of work, immediately on the expiry of 12 months.  For this, no written request from the staff concerned is required to be obtained.
21. All periodical transfers including the promotion related ones must be completed by 15th  May, every year.  To facilitate this, the general transfer exercise must commence in February itself and the orders are to be released in the 3rd week of April.
22. Annual transfer exercise must be completed between April and June of every year at any cost.  A transfer process is said to be complete, when releasing of orders, relieving and the staff concerned reporting at the new place are all over within 90 days from the date of the transfer order.
23. Any transfer order kept in abeyance for more than 6 months will get cancelled automatically.
24. Request transfers can be considered only once in 10 years and a maximum of only 4 request transfers in the entire career in the bank will be entertained.
25. All transfer requests must be properly recorded and individual staff members must be notified on their waiting list serial number and it must be displayed in the individual banks’ portals too.
26. Regular updation of this wait list must be done in the banks’ portals every quarter.
27. A person shall not be transferred from one place before he/she completes 3 years. For local transfers within 20 KMs distance, this period of minimum stay is kept at 1 year.  However, this condition will not apply to staff involved in frauds and other criminal activities.
28. Similarly, a staff member shall not be transferred more than 10 times in his/her entire career in the bank.  This condition is sought to be introduced to provide adequate protection to staff from the possible onslaught of the management and to provide relief and comfort to the family of the staff.
29. However, this rule will not apply to officers in SMGS V and above. In their case, the maximum number of transfers is kept at 15 in the entire career with an assured term of  1 year at one place/post.
30. A person shall not be transferred merely on a complaint from a customer.  In such circumstances, an open house enquiry must be conducted and its proceedings recorded properly.  Other staff of the same branch/office also must participate in that enquiry and their submissions are to be recorded too.  If necessary, the version of important and long standing customers may be taken on record, to arrive at the truth.
31. An officer shall not be retained in the same linguistic area for more than 30 years, even with breaks. The main objective is to encourage the officers to go and work in other linguistic areas.

PROMOTION

32. Promotion shall be a totally transparent exercise.  The promotion test must be conducted on line and the results must be out within 30 minutes.
33. Ideally, the promotion exercise must start in January every year and will end in April.
34. At every stage of the screening process, marks and ranks of every individual candidate must be displayed in the respective bank’s portal to ensure transparency and to enhance the credibility of the whole promotion process.
35. The marks allotted to the Annual Performance Appraisal Reports shall not exceed 40 out of 100 for the whole promotion process.
36. The performance appraisal activity must be a transparent one and it is to be preceded by quarterly feedback from the appraising authority.  Obviously, such feedback in the form of suggestions must be in writing.
37. The performance appraisal is to be completed by 30th June, every year.  
38. An officer who has scored not less than 60 % on an average during the past 5 years will be eligible to participate in the promotion process.  In the present scheme of things, a bad appraisal score of one single year will ruin the prospects of promotion of an officer for 3 continuous years.  Thus, it is tantamount to awarding a major penalty!
39. In case of an officer staff stagnating in one grade/scale for 10 years without promotion, he/she shall be automatically moved on to the next higher grade/scale.   
40. However, this is only for the purpose of paying the monthly emoluments and the superannuation benefits.  All other attendant benefits and executive powers will not automatically accrue to him/her, unless otherwise specified.
41. Because of this new provision, stagnation increments for officers will cease to accrue after 10 years of service in a particular grade/scale.
42. If any officer staff is denied this ‘automatic switch over’, he/she must be notified in writing with the reasons thereof.  Appeal against this decision can be made to the competent authority.  Any appeal must be disposed of within 90 days.  Else, it will be deemed that the appeal has been allowed.  
43. If the appeal has been turned down, another appeal for review to the next higher authority can be made.  This must be disposed of within 30 days.  Else, it will be deemed that the appeal for review has been allowed and accordingly, the original decision is annulled.  
44. Management cannot appeal against its own decision by taking up the matter at yet higher levels.
45. In case of officer staff who are denied ‘automatic switch over’ to the next higher grade/scale, one stagnation increment equivalent to the last drawn increment will be granted for every 2 years of service till they are formally ‘promoted’ to the next higher grade/scale or till they retire from bank’s services.
46. Stagnation increments will not be granted to those who refuse promotion after being offered promotion and those who opt for reversion to the previous grade/scale, after accepting promotion.
47. Reversion to a lower grade/scale can be permitted any time during one’s career, but only once.  In case of such reversion, they will be fitted in the appropriate scale of pay.

PENSION

48. Pension is to be fixed basing on the last drawn pay or the average of the last 10 months’ pay, whichever is higher.
49. All pensioners, regardless of their date of retirement, must be given the same pension uniformly, basing on their length of service, last drawn pay etc. by invoking the principle of ‘One Rank, One Pension’ (OROP).
50. D.A. on pension must be revised quarterly, as in the case of ‘in service’ staff.
51. Pension must be granted to those who voluntarily retired after 15 years of continuous service in a bank, as per the clarification given by Government of India and RBI.
52. Pension must also be granted to those who resigned after 20 years of continuous service in a bank.
53. Commutation of pension must be permitted up to 40% of the basic pension.

BONUS

Bonus must be paid to each and every staff up to General Managers (TEGS VII) level.  But, there may be a ceiling on the amount of bonus payable.  It is suggested that this ceiling be fixed at the total monthly emoluments payable to an officer in MMGS II at the maximum of the scale. ‘Bonus Act’ must be suitably amended for this purpose.  For this, amendment to ‘Bonus Act’ in the parliament is necessary.

Date: 14-01-2016                                                                                                            pannvalan