Two Union Leaders Terminated by Standard Chartered Bank, AIBOC warns of Protest

The All India Bank Officers’ Confederation West Bengal State Unit (AIBOC WBSU) has strongly condemned the vindictive and illegal actions of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in terminating two principal office bearers and four members of the Association of Standard Chartered Bank Officers’ (ASCOB) Kolkata on 18 September 2025 under the false pretext of “redundancy.”

The terminated employees include Com. Satyajeet Tripathy, General Secretary of ASCOB, Com. Tilottama Roy, President of ASCOB, and four other active members of the union. Their services were terminated with immediate effect, and dues were forcibly settled without any bilateral discussion.

They have been terminated during the pendency of industrial disputes before the Central Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court, in clear violation of Section 33 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The law explicitly prohibits changes in service conditions or punitive measures against employees during adjudication without prior Tribunal approval.

As per association, by disrespecting this legal safeguard, Standard Chartered Bank has displayed total hatred of judicial authority. It is nothing but union-busting and victimization, intended to silence officers who have been courageously raising their voice against discrimination, harassment, and exploitation within the Bank.

ASCOB is a registered trade union under the Trade Union Act, 1926 and affiliated to AIBOC. The union has raised issues such as denial of NI Act holidays to officers (while clerical staff enjoy them), severe pay disparity where officers are often paid less than clerical staff, and the misuse of redundancy and Performance Improvement Plan policies as tools of arbitrary dismissal. Officers have also faced extended working hours, absence of work-life balance, and extreme pressure that undermines their wellbeing. Women officers, in particular, have been subjected to misbehavior and harassment at the hands of senior management. To suppress this resistance, the management has suspended ASCOB’s official social media handles, attempting to gag the voice of dissent.

The latest terminations are not an isolated development but part of a continuing pattern of selective victimization by SCB. In 2022, Com. Indranil Bhattacharya, a Teller with 17 years of service, was terminated under the pretext of redundancy. Within months, the Bank recruited new people in the same role, exposing the falsehood of the claim. Again in 2024, Com. Sanjib Dey was targeted with a redundancy notice. The present action of terminating union leaders in 2025 is a further extension of this systematic misuse of redundancy provisions to selectively target genuine trade unionists and render ASCOB irrelevant.

AIBOC (WBSU) holds that the terminations are illegal, mala fide and vindictive. AIBOC West Bengal State Committee demands the immediate reinstatement of six terminated leaders and members of ASCOB. It also calls upon Standard Chartered Bank to withdraw its anti-union stand and anti-officer practices and to recognize ASCOB as the legitimate representative body of its officers. At the same time, AIBOC West Bengal State Committee urges the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) to intervene in the matter immediately to resolve the issue and revert back the six terminated employees and reinstate them in service.

The Association says that this attack on ASCOB is not merely an assault on one union; it is a direct challenge to the entire trade union movement in private and foreign banks. If such draconian measures are left unattended, they will encourage other multinational corporations to undermine the hard-won rights of bank officers.

AIBOC West Bengal State Committee has said that it stands in full solidarity with ASCOB and cautions Standard Chartered Bank management that if the Bank will not take suitable measures for reinstating services terminated employees then it will be faced with the full program of the organized banking fraternity under the Banner of AIBOC.