THE CATHOLIC SYRIAN BANK RETIREES’ ASSOCIATION No.25/981/1B, TOP CORAL, KUNNATH MANA LANE, THRISSUR- 680001 CIRCULAR No. 02/2015-17 3rd August, 2015 10th BIPARTITE SETTLEMENT – RETIREES ISSUES NOT CONSIDERED In the settlement signed on 25th May, 2015, none of the demands of the retirees were agreed nor sanctioned. This was ispite of the fact that UFBU and its constituents included a detailed list of the demands of retirees in their charter of demands, and assured not to sign the settlement till the demands are met. This has resulted into huge dissatisfaction and disappointment among more than 3 lakh bank retirees and family pensioners. Now, new struggle has begun by the Bank Retirees with new challenges. We are confident that final victory will be ours and AIBRF and retirees movement will come out with flying colours in the coming days. Along with signing wage settlement for employees, IBA and UFBU have signed Record Note Dated 25.05.15 giving their stand on various retiree demands/ issues. This document deals with 8 retiree demands/ issues namely (a) Uniform medical facility (b) LTC to retirees (c) 100 percent Dearness Allowance to pre November 2002 retirees (d) Improvement in family pension (e) Merger of DA up to 4440 points in the basic pension (f) Updation of pension (g) Periodical updation at the time of wage settlement in future (h) Uniform allocation of funds for retirees out of welfare funds. The demands listed in the document cover all our present pending issues. In the beginning of the document , IBA has come out with the statement “ any demand of retirees can be examined only as welfare measure as contractual relationship does not exist between banks and retires.” The unions, while signing the document has not recorded their stand on this issue and thereby endorsed the position taken by IBA. This statement is not acceptable to AIBRF and it will not be accepted by any retiree organisation. Our pension scheme which is a defined benefit scheme and designed on the models of pension schemes applicable to government/ RBI pensioners, is based on basic principle that pension is nothing but deferred wage. Deferred wage is matter of right and not merely welfare measures to be left at the discretion of any employer. This principle has been laid down and confirmed time and again by the highest court of the country. Hence, the concept of deferred wages call for periodical review as a matter of right. We shall have to fight out against this stand of IBA. AIBRF has decided to appeal to UFBU to examine this issue and come out with their stand on it. The matter was discussed in the Central Committee Meeting of AIBRF held at Indore on 9th and 10th July 2015 and made the following decisions: 1. It was decided that AIBRF shall continue to function as an independent organization for the cause of retirees. Issue based support will be sought from UFBU and its constituents. 2. Having lodged protest to UFBU and its constituents for failure to achieve any of the demands of retirees which was need of the time to express sentiments of the membership, AIBRF shall continue to work to develop cordiality in the relationship with the serving unions without sacrificing its independence and respect. 3. It was unanimously felt by the house that AIBRF should continue to work for developing coordination among various retiree organizations functioning at apex level in banking industry by removing the bottlenecks and hurdles coming in this direction and also work for coordination among retiree organizations in the financial sector. 4. The committee has given direction to the Central Office to make efforts and follow up to secure early date from IBA authorities for holding discussion on pending issues of retirees and outcome of the efforts should be reviewed periodically and initiate further appropriate steps to take the issue forward. 5. Contents of Record Note dated 25.05.2015 signed by IBA and Unions was reviewed and it was felt that its contents in particular preamble part “ No Contractual obligation towards retirees” was prejudicial to the long term interest of retirees. It was decided that AIBRF would continue to initiate appropriate action including legal recourse to ensure its deletion. 6. The house did comprehensive review of all pending demands of retirees and in particular updation of pension for the past retirees. In view of IBA stand on this issue as indicated in the Record Note and overall negative environment on this point prevailing in financial sector it was decided to obtain opinion from some leading advocate of Supreme 1 Court on service matters and thereafter decide future course of action to achieve this important demand. The house was of the view that social security and legal position on it as expressed in various judgments of the apex court has also to be taken into consideration by the authorities. 7. The house further decided to continue to raise other pending issues of retirees like one more pension option to left over retirees, increase in ex-gratia payment to pre-1986 retirees , encashment of leave to all compulsory retirees etc at appropriate level and pursue them for solution. The house also decided to continue to organize organizational programs at different centers to press our demands. The immediate plan finalized in this regard is as under (i) To organize demonstration and Dharna at Ahmadabad, Bhopal, Lucknow, Patna, Bhuneshwar, Mumbai & Patiala before head office / main office of the bank of the area and handover the memorandum to the Chief of the office with the request to forward it to IBA with favorable remarks. This program will be launched at other centers too in the coming days. These programs will be organized by state bodies of the area. (ii) To continue to send letters addressed to the Banking Secretary as being done at present with the request to IBA to call AIBRF for discussion. Till now more than 10000 letters have been sent under the program so far. In next one month the affiliates have been requested to send another 10000 such letters to the Banking Secretary. (iii) The delegation of AIBRF will continue to meet Central Ministers, Members of Parliament Leaders of Opposition in particular during next monsoon session of Parliament to press retiree issues. (iv) To organize centralized Dharna cum demonstration in Delhi at appropriate time during Winter/ Budget Session of the parliament. (v) In addition to the above, the affiliates were requested to organize agitational programs at local level. (vi) The house also asked the General Secretary to prepare action plan to collect legal funds from the members (vii) The house asked the General Secretary to form necessary strategy to ensure smooth implementation of the Group Medical Scheme introduced by IBA for retirees in the settlement at bank level and benefit of it reaches to each and every pensioner and their family. Our members are requested to participate very actively in all the action programmes organized by AIBRF. CSB RETIREES ON WAR PATH – ISSUES NOT RESOLVED BY THE MANAGEMENT Our Management is yet to respond to our letters requesting for immediate settlement of our demands and the Executive Committee of our Association which met on 13th June 2015 decided to go for direct actions, including ‘ONE DAY DHARNA’ in front of Head Office, preferably on the date of the Annual General Meeting of the Bank. All our members should actively participate in the Dharna and make it a grand show. MPs, MLAs and other leaders of Social and Political organisations and Fellow Organisations will participate and address the Dharna. As a prelude to the dharna, one hour Demonstration will also be held in front of the Head Office of the Bank, exact date of which will be intimated soon. We feel that CSB Management does not appreciate the sincere, honest and dedicated service put in by the retirees in building the Bank as one of the premier organisations in the country. It is to be mentioned that they were drawing a very meagre salary and perquisites and many of them had to retire with a paltry sum as terminal benefits. Most of them find it difficult to pull on as their medical expenses and cost of other basic requirements are increasing day by day where as there has not been any increase in pension, except a marginal increase in DA. It is to be remembered that they have spent most of their prime time of life for the institution and they deserve all the support from the Bank in the old age. Most of the banks are having welfare schemes for the retirees and there are systems prevailing in all these banks to redress the grievances of retirees, on a regular basis. But, in Catholic Syrian Bank many of the genuine demands of the retirees remain unsettled, even though the management had assured to consider them favourably, on many occasions. 2 During the discussions with the former MD & CEO Shri.Rakesh Bhatia and also Sri.S.Santhanakrishnan, Chairman of the Bank they had assured to consider all our demands and resolve them at the earliest. But, so far there had not been any progress in addressing them. A detailed letter given to the present MD & CEO also remain unresponded. We are now forced to adopt to organisational actions to get our issues settled and demonstration and dharna in front of the Head Office of the Bank are being organized as part of it. A summary of the pending issues are given below for your kind information. Extension of Medical Benefit Scheme to the Retired Improvement in Ex Gratia payment to the widows of Staff Members and Spouse.