The General Secretary of the All India Punjab National Bank Officers’ Federation (AIPNBOF) has reacted to the criticism of UFBU by NOBW and NOBO over the five-day banking week issue. He said that although he himself has been critical of UFBU for many years, NOBW and NOBO should not criticise UFBU on this particular issue.
The AIPNBOF General Secretary said that he has not been a strong supporter of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) for the last 20 years. According to him, UFBU mainly gives importance to major unions and associations. Smaller unions and associations have limited influence in its decision-making.
He said that minority unions and associations that want to grow should consider staying outside UFBU. According to him, smaller organisations do not have much say in UFBU decisions, but they may still have to face the consequences of decisions taken by the forum.
However, he questioned the stand taken by NOBW and NOBO on the demand for a five-day banking week. He claimed that both organisations were ready to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) in December 2023 even though the five-day banking week had not been implemented.
He further claimed that NOBW and NOBO were also among the organisations that wanted the wage revision agreement to be signed in March 2024 without waiting for the implementation of five-day banking.
According to the AIPNBOF General Secretary, NOBW and NOBO also did not strongly demand strike action during UFBU and Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) meetings. He said that he was regularly asking for a longer strike to put pressure on the authorities for implementation of the five-day banking week.
He also said that he had repeatedly requested union leaders CH Venkatachalam and Rupam Roy not to sign the MoU without getting approval for five-day banking. Later, he also requested them not to sign the final wage revision agreement until the five-day banking week was implemented.
The AIPNBOF General Secretary described NOBW and NOBO as organisations aligned with the government. He said that these organisations can raise the problems of bank employees before the government, but alleged that they cannot launch a strong protest against the government while the BJP is in power at the Centre.
At the same time, he said that being outside UFBU could actually benefit NOBW and NOBO. In his view, UFBU mainly works for the three major unions and associations. He suggested that other smaller organisations should also consider moving out of UFBU and working independently.
Despite these differences, the AIPNBOF General Secretary appreciated NOBW and NOBO for their efforts on another important issue. He praised them for taking up the matter with the Department of Financial Services (DFS) for quarterly consultation meetings between bank managements and minority unions and associations.
