PRESS RELEASE:
By C.H. VENKATACHALAM
GENERAL SECRETARY
TODAY’S BANK STRIKE – TOTAL SUCCESS
At the call of United Forum of Bank Unions comprising of 9 bank trade unions, 10 lacs bank employees observed All India Strike today on the following demands:
1. Immediate Wage Revision for bank employees and officers
2. Stop retrograde Banking Sector reforms
Wage Revision demand: Wage Revision Settlement in the Banks is due from November, 2012. UFBU has submitted the charter of demands in October, 2012. Indian Banks Association (IBA) has been delaying the matter for the past one year. When prices are increasing day by day, when the workload on the employees has gone due to steep increase in volume of business, there is urgent need to increase the wages of the bank employees but bank managements attitude seems to very casual. Hence we are demanding immediate settlement on wage revision without any further delay.
IBA’s stand unacceptable: After we gave the notice for strike, the IBA called the Unions for negotiations on 14th December and stated that since the profits of the Banks are under stress due to provisions for bad loans and increase in cost of pension, the Banks cannot afford to give higher wage revision and hence offered an increase of Rs. 1575 crores ( 5% on the payslip components of the total wage bill). Everyone knows that employees are not responsible for bad loans in the Banks. It is all created at the higher level. Nobody is preventing the Banks to take stringent measures to recover the bad loans. But citing it as a reason to refuse reasonable wage revision is not acceptable to us. Similarly, pension cost is bound to go up, when the DA on pension is going up due to price rise. Can employees be blamed for the unabated price rise ? Hence this argument is also unfair.
Profits of the Banks are on the rise only: Despite the unfavourable economic scenario, Banks have been earning good profits over the years.
(Rs. In Crores – fig. of PSBs other than IDBI Bank)
Year Gross Operative Profits Net profits
2006-07 41,500 19,680
2007-08 48,250 25,862
2008-09 65,227 33,514
2009-10 74,220 38,225
2010-11 95,908 43,250
2011-12 1,12,290 47,483
2012-13 1,16,458 48,700
Bad Loans are increasing not because of employees:
(Rs. In Crores – fig. of PSBs)
31.03.2008 39,030 crores
31.03.2009 44,954 crores
31.03.2010 59,927 crores
31.03.2011 74,664 crores
31-03-2012 117,000 crores
31-3-2013 1,64,461 crores
31-3-2013 PSBs + Private/Foreign Banks 1,94,000 crores
Profits diverted to provide for bad loans – Can employees be penalised ?
(Rs. In Crores – fig. of PSBs)
Year Provisions made for bad loans from the profits earned by the Banks
2008-09 11,121 crores
2009-10 18,036 crores
2010-11 29,830 crores
2011-12 38,177 crores
2012-13 43,102 crores
In 5 years 1,40,266 crores
Bad loans written off by Banks: (Rs. In Crores )
PSBs OLD PVT BANKS NEW PVT BANKS FOREIGN
BANKS ALL BANKS
2007 9189 610 1232 590 11621
2008 8019 724 1577 1334 11654
2009 6966 616 5063 3350 15995
2010 11185 884 6712 6238 25019
2011 17794 682 2336 3083 23895
2012 15551 671 3024 1646 20892
2013 27013 863 3487 855 32218
TOTAL 95717
5050
23431
17096
141294
There is profit’s to write off bad loans but no profit to increase wages ?
The total wage bill for the entire 8 lacs employees of the public sector banks for the year ended 31-3-2012 was Rs. 56,000 crores. But Rs. 38,000 crores were provided from profits toward bad loans in addition to actual write off of Rs. 27,000 crores. (Total Rs. 65,000 crores). But when it comes to dealing with wage increase, the argument is that Banks cannot afford. This is not acceptable to the UFBU.
Our demands are reasonable: Our demands are reasonable and also negotiable. UFBU would like to settle the demands through mutual discussions. But if the Banks do not adopt a fair approach, the employees resentment would have to be ventilated through strikes only. We hope that IBA would understand our demands and come forward to settle the demands through amicable negotiations and finalise the settlement at the earliest.
Better wages would result in better profits: If employees are paid better wages commensurate with the prices and their workload, it will be a great motivation and incentive to involve better and this would lead to more efficiency and better profits for the Banks. Hence wage increase should be seen with a positive outlook. No Bank in India had so far collapsed or gone into loss due to increase in wages but Banks have collapsed due to mismanagement and bad loans. Hence our demand for wage increase should be settled at the earliest.
Review Banking Sector Reforms: Similarly, the Government is also pursuing policies of banking reforms which are not good for our country. Government wants to hand over the Banks to private hands, give more licenses to industrial houses and corporates to start their own Banks, allow foreign banks to take over our Banks, giving concessions to defaulting borrowers and write off of huge bad loans of corporates, etc. These are retrograde steps and hence should be abandoned forthwith.
Strengthen and expand our public sector banking: Banks should be expanded to reach and serve the common people more effectively. Bank employees are always ready to work more and more for the progress and growth of the Banks so that it will benefit the people at large.
Strike Total success – Total impact : To highlight these two demands, UFBU had given the strike call. The Strike has been a total success all over the country. Banking transactions including clearing operations were paralysed. Bank branches remained closed. Normal banking services were disrupted. All over the country about 40 lacs cheques worth about Rs. 32,000 crores could not be processed by the Clearing Houses. In Mumbai, about 6 lacs cheques worth about Rs. 3,800 crores could not be cleared. In Delhi, about 4 lacs cheques worth about Rs. 3,300 crores could not be cleared. In Chennai, about 3 lacs cheques worth about Rs. 2,200 crores could not be processed in clearing. Government transactions, foreign exchange transactions,. Money market operations, etc. were also affected. In many places, ATMs did not function or were dried up.
Strike was forced on us: Even though UFBU had given notice for the strike one month ago, the Government and IBA did not take necessary steps to resolve the demands. Hence the strike has been forced on us. We are sorry that the banking public would have been inconvenienced by this strike but that was unavoidable due to the non-serious approach of the IBA / Government to avert the strike by improving their offer on wage increase and discussing our concerns on the banking sector reforms.
We are ready to resolve the issues by discussions: UFBU is always open to resolve the demands by discussions and negotiations but IBA and the Government should also be forthcoming. If the same negative attitude will continue, we will be left with no alternative than to further intensify the agitation.
Next phase of programme: UFBU is meeting at Hyderabad on 23rd December to discuss further course of action and next phase of our agitation and strikes.
C.H. VENKATACHALAM
GENERAL SECRETARY
By C.H. VENKATACHALAM
GENERAL SECRETARY
TODAY’S BANK STRIKE – TOTAL SUCCESS
At the call of United Forum of Bank Unions comprising of 9 bank trade unions, 10 lacs bank employees observed All India Strike today on the following demands:
1. Immediate Wage Revision for bank employees and officers
2. Stop retrograde Banking Sector reforms
Wage Revision demand: Wage Revision Settlement in the Banks is due from November, 2012. UFBU has submitted the charter of demands in October, 2012. Indian Banks Association (IBA) has been delaying the matter for the past one year. When prices are increasing day by day, when the workload on the employees has gone due to steep increase in volume of business, there is urgent need to increase the wages of the bank employees but bank managements attitude seems to very casual. Hence we are demanding immediate settlement on wage revision without any further delay.
IBA’s stand unacceptable: After we gave the notice for strike, the IBA called the Unions for negotiations on 14th December and stated that since the profits of the Banks are under stress due to provisions for bad loans and increase in cost of pension, the Banks cannot afford to give higher wage revision and hence offered an increase of Rs. 1575 crores ( 5% on the payslip components of the total wage bill). Everyone knows that employees are not responsible for bad loans in the Banks. It is all created at the higher level. Nobody is preventing the Banks to take stringent measures to recover the bad loans. But citing it as a reason to refuse reasonable wage revision is not acceptable to us. Similarly, pension cost is bound to go up, when the DA on pension is going up due to price rise. Can employees be blamed for the unabated price rise ? Hence this argument is also unfair.
Profits of the Banks are on the rise only: Despite the unfavourable economic scenario, Banks have been earning good profits over the years.
(Rs. In Crores – fig. of PSBs other than IDBI Bank)
Year Gross Operative Profits Net profits
2006-07 41,500 19,680
2007-08 48,250 25,862
2008-09 65,227 33,514
2009-10 74,220 38,225
2010-11 95,908 43,250
2011-12 1,12,290 47,483
2012-13 1,16,458 48,700
Bad Loans are increasing not because of employees:
(Rs. In Crores – fig. of PSBs)
31.03.2008 39,030 crores
31.03.2009 44,954 crores
31.03.2010 59,927 crores
31.03.2011 74,664 crores
31-03-2012 117,000 crores
31-3-2013 1,64,461 crores
31-3-2013 PSBs + Private/Foreign Banks 1,94,000 crores
Profits diverted to provide for bad loans – Can employees be penalised ?
(Rs. In Crores – fig. of PSBs)
Year Provisions made for bad loans from the profits earned by the Banks
2008-09 11,121 crores
2009-10 18,036 crores
2010-11 29,830 crores
2011-12 38,177 crores
2012-13 43,102 crores
In 5 years 1,40,266 crores
Bad loans written off by Banks: (Rs. In Crores )
PSBs OLD PVT BANKS NEW PVT BANKS FOREIGN
BANKS ALL BANKS
2007 9189 610 1232 590 11621
2008 8019 724 1577 1334 11654
2009 6966 616 5063 3350 15995
2010 11185 884 6712 6238 25019
2011 17794 682 2336 3083 23895
2012 15551 671 3024 1646 20892
2013 27013 863 3487 855 32218
TOTAL 95717
5050
23431
17096
141294
There is profit’s to write off bad loans but no profit to increase wages ?
The total wage bill for the entire 8 lacs employees of the public sector banks for the year ended 31-3-2012 was Rs. 56,000 crores. But Rs. 38,000 crores were provided from profits toward bad loans in addition to actual write off of Rs. 27,000 crores. (Total Rs. 65,000 crores). But when it comes to dealing with wage increase, the argument is that Banks cannot afford. This is not acceptable to the UFBU.
Our demands are reasonable: Our demands are reasonable and also negotiable. UFBU would like to settle the demands through mutual discussions. But if the Banks do not adopt a fair approach, the employees resentment would have to be ventilated through strikes only. We hope that IBA would understand our demands and come forward to settle the demands through amicable negotiations and finalise the settlement at the earliest.
Better wages would result in better profits: If employees are paid better wages commensurate with the prices and their workload, it will be a great motivation and incentive to involve better and this would lead to more efficiency and better profits for the Banks. Hence wage increase should be seen with a positive outlook. No Bank in India had so far collapsed or gone into loss due to increase in wages but Banks have collapsed due to mismanagement and bad loans. Hence our demand for wage increase should be settled at the earliest.
Review Banking Sector Reforms: Similarly, the Government is also pursuing policies of banking reforms which are not good for our country. Government wants to hand over the Banks to private hands, give more licenses to industrial houses and corporates to start their own Banks, allow foreign banks to take over our Banks, giving concessions to defaulting borrowers and write off of huge bad loans of corporates, etc. These are retrograde steps and hence should be abandoned forthwith.
Strengthen and expand our public sector banking: Banks should be expanded to reach and serve the common people more effectively. Bank employees are always ready to work more and more for the progress and growth of the Banks so that it will benefit the people at large.
Strike Total success – Total impact : To highlight these two demands, UFBU had given the strike call. The Strike has been a total success all over the country. Banking transactions including clearing operations were paralysed. Bank branches remained closed. Normal banking services were disrupted. All over the country about 40 lacs cheques worth about Rs. 32,000 crores could not be processed by the Clearing Houses. In Mumbai, about 6 lacs cheques worth about Rs. 3,800 crores could not be cleared. In Delhi, about 4 lacs cheques worth about Rs. 3,300 crores could not be cleared. In Chennai, about 3 lacs cheques worth about Rs. 2,200 crores could not be processed in clearing. Government transactions, foreign exchange transactions,. Money market operations, etc. were also affected. In many places, ATMs did not function or were dried up.
Strike was forced on us: Even though UFBU had given notice for the strike one month ago, the Government and IBA did not take necessary steps to resolve the demands. Hence the strike has been forced on us. We are sorry that the banking public would have been inconvenienced by this strike but that was unavoidable due to the non-serious approach of the IBA / Government to avert the strike by improving their offer on wage increase and discussing our concerns on the banking sector reforms.
We are ready to resolve the issues by discussions: UFBU is always open to resolve the demands by discussions and negotiations but IBA and the Government should also be forthcoming. If the same negative attitude will continue, we will be left with no alternative than to further intensify the agitation.
Next phase of programme: UFBU is meeting at Hyderabad on 23rd December to discuss further course of action and next phase of our agitation and strikes.
C.H. VENKATACHALAM
GENERAL SECRETARY
Cabinet approves Rs 6,600-cr interest-free loans for sugar mills-Business Line
NEW DELHI, DEC. 19:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday approved Rs 6,600 crore interest free loans to the beleaguered sugar mills to ease their cane payment burden, said Food Minister K.V. Thomas.
The CCEA also approved the exports of sugar without any quantitative restrictions, said Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari. The Government will soon notify the sugar package.
Interest free loans were one of the relief measures suggested by the informal group of ministers led by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to help millers clear dues and make timely payment in the current crushing season 2013-14. The Government had asked the panel headed by Pawar to look into the issue following the millers’ reluctance to start crushing for the 2013-14 season starting October.
Sugar millers, who are reeling under the impact of high cane costs amidst a bearish trend in sweetener prices, are currently saddled with the payment arrears for last season estimated at Rs 3,400 crore, while dues for the current season have started building up with the pick up in cane crushing.
As part of the relief scheme, bankers were likely to lend equivalent to the excise duty paid by mills in the last three years, while the entire interest of 12 per cent would be borne by the Centre and the Sugar Development Fund.
Loan recast
The Pawar-led panel had also recommended recasting of loans taken by mills as per the Reserve Bank of India norms, incentivise production of 4 million tonnes of raw sugar and create buffer stocks besides doubling ethanol blending in petrol to 10 per cent. These other measures were likely to be considered by the Cabinet next week. Pawar had told Wednesday that the relief measures would be announced in stages.
“The loans will help the industry reduce around Rs 500 crore annually of interest burden in the next 5 years. The industry eagerly waits for the Government’s help to reduce some of the surplus sugar stock as well as take immediate steps to rationalise cane pricing policy. Those can further help the sugar sector come out of the current financial crisis,” said Abinash Verma, Director General of the Indian Sugar Mills Association in a statement.
Cane crushing has picked up with 426 of the 500-odd mills have started crushing across the country as on December 15. However, the production of the sweetener is down by 50 per cent at 24.24 lakh tonnes as on December 15 over corresponding last year
.
The industry has started the 2013-14 season with carry forward stocks of 8.8 million tonnes and the production this year is expected to be 25 million tonnes more than the domestic demand of 23 million tonnes.
The CCEA deferred the issue relating to increasing buffer stocks. A panel including Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister and Planning Commission will look at the issue, said Thomas.
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