Syndicate Bank staff to launch agitation

KOCHI: The Syndicate Bank Staff Association (SBSA) said that it would launch an agitation against the recommendations of the Khandelwal Committee.The Khandelwal committee has recommended the abolition of 40-year-old method of bi-partite negotiations and collective agreement at industry level aimed at improving the wages and service conditions of the bank employees.Major recommendations of the committee include bank-wise wage revision in place of the industry-level agreement, incentive based, differential and viable pay method, large scale outsourcing of non-core activities and an attempt to reduce the number of permanent employees. These recommendations are anti-labour and would cause negative impact on human resources in the banking sector, KS Bhatin, SBSA all-India secretary said in a press release.“The recommendation to fill 50 per cent of the vacancies of bank officers through direct recruitment will drastically reduce the promotion opportunities of the qualified clerical staff,” K S Bhatin said.He alleged that government was trying to scuttle the collective bargaining power of the bank employees by accepting the committee’s recommendations. SBSA has called upon the bank staff to resist the move of the government at any cost and join hands with United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBO) to launch an agitation.