CIRCULAR NO 7 FROM GENERAL SECRETARY

CIRCULAR GS/2012/07 14th February 2012

TO ALL OFFICERS

Dear Friends,

We reproduce hereunder our communications to the management for your information:

“STAFFING PATTERN IN BRANCHES & OFFICES OF THE BANK

We acknowledge receipt of your communication No.CO/HRD/R&P./2011-12./4533 dated 01.02.2012 inviting our views and suggestions on the subject matter. In this regard, we would like to state that:

1. The staffing pattern in branches and offices has been discussed and settled with our Federation during the Joint Discussions held from time to time;
2. the staffing pattern of branches in various scales and at different centres require a serious study;
3. it is also related with the promotional opportunities coupled with transfer / placement of officers in various scales on promotion, rotation, requests etc. and hence required to be deliberated in discussions;
4. accordingly only in the Joint Discussions earlier held with our Federation, the staffing pattern of various branches have been finalized; however, that may require a relook owing to implementation of CBS;
5. we are now in the process of having a discussion amongst the Principal Office Bearers before putting forth our views to the management during the discussion;
6. just sending a communication giving suggestions or views would not serve the purpose, unless detailed discussions are held putting forth various arguments for the suggestions on either side.

In view of the above, we request you to invite our Federation for a meaningful discussion. Since our Office Bearers would be meeting shortly for deliberating on the issues, we request the dates for the discussions may please be decided in the first/second week of March 2012, on a date mutually acceptable.”

“CLOSURE/MERGER OF ZONES

We reliably understand that the management is in the process of merging/closing some of the Zones. So far our organization has not received any official communication nor called for any discussion on the matter of merger/closure of any Zone in the bank.

When the management had taken a decision for merger of some of the Regions in Mumbai & Bhopal, we had demanded for a discussion on the matter with the management. Any merger/closure of Zones or Regions will result in curtailment of promotional opportunities and displacement of officer staff. Earlier the management had informed that the Regions were being merged only to have a better synergy and that theywere far and few. The present move to close/merge Zones is an indication that the management is in the process of closing the Zones with an intention to set up a three-level administration. It is unfair to take such an important decision without taking into confidence the majority officers’ organization in the matter.

It would have been prudent for the management to call the Federation for a discussion informing the cogent reasons for any such merger and also take into consideration the views and suggestions of our Federation in the matter. The present move is nothing but ignoring the bilateral forum available in the bank. Since re-organization of the bank administration is an important aspect which will affect the promotional opportunities and also the geographical area of transferability of officers, we demand that our Federation should be called for a discussion on the matter immediately.

The management has been declaring that the Unions and Associations are partners in the development of the bank, but in deed Unions and Associations are being sidelined while taking such important decisions. There appears to be a trust deficit. This is bound to create irritation and strain in the Industrial Relations in the bank.

We hope the management will understand the situation in its proper perspective and call the Federation for a discussion on the matter before implementation of any such decision.”

Further developments in this regard will be informed.

With Greetings.

Yours Sincerely,

(A.R.SAIFULLAH)

GENERAL SECRETARY

OFFICERS’ UNITY - ZINDABAD : A I B O C - ZINDABAD : A I C B O F - ZINDABAD

TREAT YOURSELF WITH LOVE AND RESPECT;

ACCEPT ONLY THE BEST FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE

CIRCULAR NO 6 FROM GENERAL SECRETARY

CIRCULAR GS/2012/06 03.02.2012

TO ALL OFFICERS

Dear Friends,

Bank–Federation Synergy: a Centenary Year Spontaneous Response

Part 3

In this three part series of circulars on the subject, in the first two parts we had dealt with the past laurels and basic character of the Bank. In this concluding part we deal with the status of the Bank since its Nationalisation in 1969.

The Bank which was having the status of numero uno among the commercial banks at the time of nationalization steadily slipped. slow absorption of Information Technology had its major share in contributing to the tardy growth of the Bank in the Post Nationalisation scenario. No wonder, in 1992 when new Prudential Norms were introduced, the Bank was considered as one of the five Weak Banks. Since then, there is vast improvement and from 2006 onwards, Bank started showing figures of Total Business in lakhs of crores. But, still there are grey areas which hamper its growth to achieve a pre-eminent position.

Our premises, interior decoration, and furnishing lack basic features of a commercial bank not to speak of the state of the art facilities achieved by the peers .Management has all data of proposed branch expansion, business expansion, retirement, resignations, etc., and has a mechanism in place for recruitment and promotion. Annually, massive recruitments and promotions are taking place in the last five years. But, finally there is shortage. Branches are not manned by appropriate level of Managers. Man-power is not provided as per approved staff structure. There is still acute shortage of manpower and basic infrastructure in some branches. Recently lady officers are transferred to far of places without giving preferencial treatment to them . Hopefully, these issues will be addressed by the present management and we are committed to contribute our mite in the Bank’s surge to its zenith.

As part of this commitment, in our centenary celebratory endeavours various state and regional units have conducted mass contact programmes. Details are given below.

· Our Patna unit has taken the lead in the mobilization of CASA deposits. Saharsa,Ranchi,Purnea,Gaya and Patna Regional units have canvassed more than 6300 CASA accounts

· Muzaffarpur and Motihari canvassed 740 accounts.

· Hyderabad and Vijayawada units canvassed more than 230 low cast deposit accounts.

· Meerut,Etawah,Nasik,Pune,Ahmednagar,Aurangabad,,Bhopal,Gwalior

Jalgaon,Kanpur,Amravathi,Akola,Nagpur,Chennai and Coimbatore units collected good number of business leads.

· Madurai and Trichy Regional units conducted the mass contact programme in which the Regional Managers also participated.

We congratulate all these units and the General Secretaries and Regional Secretaries, other Office Bearers and Executives involved in this exercise and thank them for their spontaneous response to the Federation’s call. We always believe in efforts unlike others who used to issue only circulars..

We are sure our whole-hearted participation in the celebrations will go a long way in contributing to the growth of the Bank.

May the Bank reach the pinnacle of glory soon!

With Greetings

Yours Sincerely,

( A.R.Saifullah )

General Secretary

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OFFICERS’ UNITY = ZINDABAD A I B O C =-ZINDABAD A I C B O F =ZINDABAD

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ALONE WE CAN DO LITTLE TOGETHER WE CAN DO SO MUCH

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CIRCULAR NO 5 FROM GENERAL SECRETARY

CIRCULAR GS/2012/05 1^st February 2012

TO ALL OFFICERS

Dear Friends,

We reproduce hereunder the communication received from AIBOC for your information.

10^TH BIPARTITE NEGOTIATIONS-CHARTER OF DEMANDS

“The 9^th Bipartite settlement is to expire on 31.10.2012. The Executive Committee of the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation, which met at Kolkatta on 17^th and 18^th of January 2012, had an occasion to debate on the commencement of negotiations with the Indian Banks’ Association for the purpose of settling the 10^th Bipartite which will be due on 01.11.2012. The members of the Executive Committee had a lively debate on the subject and were of the view that the Confederation should take the leadership as usual and prepare its own strategy for commencement of the Negotiations on 10^th Bipartite with a view to ensure a fair and reasonable revision from 01.11.2012.

In the course of the deliberations, the members observed that, there is a need to be cautious in the background of several developments that are taking place in the Banking scenario, in particular the attempt of Dr.Khandelwal to bring into focus the issue of dividing the banks and injecting a sentiment amongst the rank and file that, there has to be freedom to the Management to have their own say in regard to the revision. It is a ploy as usual in order to create a confusion amongst the rank and file. Hence, the Confederation should be pro-active and go with a definite direction and commitment to ensure that, the banking industry will have the benefit of the industry level settlement. Any deviation from this time tested path is only meant to divide the movement by the Government and the Managements of the Banks.

The members also suggested that, the Confederation should independently come out with a comprehensive ‘Charter of Demands’ covering all aspects of the bipartite settlement as well as the general issues on the service matters, which are pending with the Indian Banks’ Association for a long time. The 6^th Pay Commission has thrown a lot of opportunity to the Civil Servants to better their compensation system as well as the superannuation schemes. There is a need to imbibe some of these aspects and come out with a clear document demanding similar benefits to our members as well.

Friends, the members also decided that, the Confederation should take the lead in the industry, in particular for the Bank Officers’ fraternity and hence we should prepare a comprehensive ‘Charter of Demands’ for submission to the Indian Banks’ Association in good time to compel the IBA to commence the negotiations, so that, we could reach a settlement without loss of much time. The Confederation is aware of the major demands that are to be flagged for the settlement during the current negotiations with the major emphasis on the rationalization of the Salary Scales, the allowances and the introduction of various compensation for the multifarious responsibilities, that are being undertaken by the members of our organisation across the country while serving their respective institutions. The Confederation also has a responsibility of taking care of our former members who are now retired and have been drawing pension without any improvement and similar other facilities as part of our gesture to our senior friends.

It is the duty of each and every member to rally round this great organization and march forward with determination to maintain solidarity and unity of this great movement, so that, we should be able to do justice to our rank and file in the ensuing bipartite negotiations.

In the meanwhile, members who are desirous of sending their views, suggestions and notes etc., in regard to the ‘Charter of Demands’ are requested to forward the same to the Head quarters immediately.”

We will keep our members advised of the developments from time to time in this regard.

With greetings,

Yours Sincerely,

(A.R.SAIFULLAH)

GENERAL SECRETARY

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OFFICERS’ UNITY- ZINDABAD A I B O C – ZINDABAD A I C B O F - ZINDABAD

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CIRCULAR NO 4 FROM GENERAL SECRETARY

CIRCULAR GS/2012/04 25^th January 2012

TO ALL OFFICERS

Dear Friends,

We are reproducing hereunder communications sent to the Management of our bank for your information :

“POLICY FOR PROVIDING FURNITURE & FIXTURES

AT THE RESIDENCE OF OFFICERS

We invite your kind attention to our earlier communication dated 15^th November 2012 on the subject, wherein we had drawn the attention of the management to the various discrepancies in the new scheme. We are bringing the following to your kind notice and request you to issue clarification to the Zonal/Regional Offices:

1. The eligibility and ceiling for furniture and fixtures has been revised for all scales. The department has also issued guidelines that the furniture and fixtures should be purchased from reputed firms and companies. The cost of such furniture also includes VAT and other taxes. Hence the real ceiling of eligibility for furniture gets reduced. As such, there is a necessity to exclude the VAT from the eligible ceiling.
2. Various categories of officers viz. Internal Auditors, officers posted for completion of rural/semi urban stint, officers posted to North Eastern States etc. have been permitted to keep their family at a place of their choice. Such officers who have been permitted to keep their family outside the head quarters should be permitted the furniture and fixtures facility at the place where the family has been permitted to reside.
3. In the earlier scheme, the Probationary Officers were also eligible for furniture and fixtures facility. In the new scheme announced, the directly recruited officers in Scale I/II/III on probation have been excluded from this facility. We request that the POs should be permitted the furniture and fixtures facility as was available prior to the revised scheme. It is not fair to make such Officers ineligible for the facility while revising the scheme.
4. A number of officers have been posted to far off centres on promotion/rotation within/outside the Zone. Some such officers have preferred to retain their family at another centre so as not to disturb the education of their children and for other cogent reasons. They have requested for permitting the furniture and fixtures facility at a different centre where the family has been kept. We request that such officers should also be permitted the facility where the family has been retained.”

“REIMBURSEMENT/PERQUISITE

We understand from circular No.CO/HRD/R&P/2011-12 dated December 7, 2011 issued by HRD to all Regional Offices that in case of necessity, the recently recruited Probationary Officers in Scale I with minimum service of one year may also be posted as Branch Managers. Such Scale I officers posted as Branch Managers shall be exercising the lending and non-lending powers of Scale II. In this regard, we would like to draw your attention to the following:

1. We are pleased to note that the Regional Offices have been advised to pay officiating allowance to Scale I officers so posted as Branch Managers.
2. A few years back, the management had made all Scale I officers eligible for conveyance reimbursement and furniture and fixture facility. The Probationary Officers in Scale I were to be provided conveyance reimbursement from the date of confirmation in the services of the bank.
3. In the earlier Joint Discussions with our Federation, when all Scale I officers were not eligible for conveyance reimbursement, it was agreed by the management to provide conveyance reimbursement to all Scale I officers posted as Branch Managers and accordingly circulars have been issued.
4. In the recently issued guidelines of GAD for providing the furniture and fixtures facility, a mention has been made that the Probationary Officers in Scale I will be eligible for this facility only after their confirmation in the services of the bank.
5. During our Joint Discussions in the past, the management has agreed to provide furniture and fixture facility to all Scale I Branch Managers, at a time when all the Scale I officers were not eligible for such facility.

Since the management has a taken a decision to post Scale I officers including Probationary Officers in Scale I (with minimum 1 year service) as Branch Managers, we request you to advise the Regional Offices that all such officers should be permitted Conveyance Reimbursement and also the furniture and fixture facility which will sure be an incentive to the Officers to work as Branch Managers with zeal and enthusiasm.”

The above issues will be followed up for its logical conclusion. We shall inform you the developments in due course.

WITH WARM GREETINGS

Yours Sincerely,

(A.R.SAIFULLAH)

GENERAL SECRETARY

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OFFICERS’ UNITY –ZINDABAD A I B O C ZINDABAD A I C B O F ZINDABAD

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NO ONE HAS EVER BECOME POOR BY GIVING

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