MINUTES OF THE MEETING ON CO-ORDINATION OF THE FEDERATIONS OF BANK PENSIONERS AND RETIREES HELD ON 28-07-2015 AT NEW DELHI.

Copy of Minutes of the Apex retirees organisations meet held at New Delhi, on 28th July '15 is furnished here under for information, which is self explanatory:

MINUTES OF THE MEETING ON CO-ORDINATION OF THE FEDERATIONS OF BANK PENSIONERS AND RETIREES HELD ON 28-07-2015 AT NEW DELHI.

'A meeting for bringing together the major apex level organizations of the Bank pensioners and retirees was organized on 28-07-2015 at New Delhi. The following Federations of Bank Pensioners and retirees attended this meeting.

1. Federation of State Bank of India Pensioners’ Associations
2. All India Bank Retirees’ Federation
3. All India Bank Pensioners’& Retirees’ Confederation.
4. Retired Bank Officers’ National Confederation and
5. All India Retired Bank Employees’ Association       

The participants from the above organizations are furnished in the Annexure hereto.

2. Before the commencement of this meeting, two minutes silence was observed in memory of former President Shri A.B.J.Abdul Kalam.  Shri P.P.S.Murthy, General Secretary, Federation of S.B.I Pensioners’Associations. This meeting is very important one for strengthening the movement of Bank Pensioners and Retirees by bringing together all their important apex level organizations. The disappointment caused to the pensioners by the much expected 10th bipartite Settlement and the declarations made in the Record Note released by I.B.A along with the 10th bipartite settlement has created the need for collective and combined efforts by all the above organizations. Shri R.N.Banerjee, President, Federation of SBI Pensioners’ Associations brought to the notice of the participants the efforts made by his Federation over the last 25 years including the legal action  for securing legitimate pension benefits. He said collective efforts by all of us with commitment are necessary for resolving our common issues.

3. Shri S.C.Jain  , General Secretary of All Retirees’ Federation referred to the challenges before us and the disappointment and frustration of the pensioners after  the  10th bipartite settlement was concluded. He is in favour of co-ordination for bringing unity among all of us. He said that U.F.B.R.O was formed for this purpose. They could achieve certain benefits in the form of Ex-gratia to pre 1-1-1986 retirees and their spouses, could arrange for establishing grievance redressal machinery and secure the facility of one-more pension option. He felt that U.F.B.R.O could itself be utilized for the purpose of our co-ordination.. He however does not have any reservation on forming new organization of all the above Federations. He considered that we should explore the legal option for securing the updation of pension by obtaining a expert legal opinion.

4.Shri K.V.Acharya, President, All India Bank Pensioners’& Retirees’ Confederation favoured the immediate formation of co-ordination of the above five Federations of Bank Pensioners and Retirees. He said that exgratia to pre 1-1-1986 retirees was granted first by the Indian Overseas Bank in 1996 before other Banks provided this facility. He said that I.B.A should discuss with the organizations of Bank Pensioners and Retirees on issues concerning them. He also brought to the notice of the participants the various programs of action taken by his Federation for focusing and resolving the issues of the pensioners. He said that the provision for the updation of pension is statutory and denying the updation of pension is in violation of this regulation. He also suggested to consider widening our Co-ordination by including the corresponding organizations of R.B.I and L.I.C.As age is not with us, he felt that there is a need for us to forge our unity without delay.

5.Shri R.D.Deshpande, General Secretary, Retired Bank Officers’ National Confederation shared the view that the time is now ripe for all of us to take a positive decision on forming our co-ordination. Our members would not be satisfied without beneficial results. He said that our issues should get prioritized and action plan drawn up. He said that the second option issue of the resigned and those left over should be addressed. Shri R. Acharya of All India Retired Bank Employees’ Association concurred with the view on forming a co-ordination of all the above organizations.

6. All the participants agreed to enlist the support of U.F.B.U and other organizations of the serving employees of Banks All the participants unanimously agreed on forming a co-ordination of all the above five Federations with the following objectives, structure, name, action plan, code of conduct, finance and Joint Action Committee..

I.Objectives

a. To remove the discrimination caused in the payment of dearness relief to pre 1-11-2002 pensioners.

b. To secure the upgradation of basic pension/ family pension by merging dearness relief neutralized with 100% up to 4440 points as on 31-10-2012.

c. To secure family pension at 30% of pay uniformly to all on the same basis as followed by Reserve Bank of India. To remove the extant ceiling on family pension of Rs, 5,930/ and Rs.9, 284/ on Ninth and Tenth bipartite pay scales respectively, pending consideration of this proposal,

d.. To take steps for securing improvements as obtaining in the Pension Scheme of Reserve Bank of India

e. To secure the updation of pension on every revision for meeting aging needs of Bank pensioners.

f. To secure improvements in medical facilities to the pensioners and family pensioners.

g. To take steps for strengthening the Pensioners/ Retirees Movement in the Banking Industry by mobilizing more members and by bringing together the multiple organizations of Bank pensioners/retirees in each Bank if any and

h. To serve the ageing members of our society and in co-ordination with similar organizations in the service of the aged.

i. To secure pension option for the resigned and all left over with eligible pensionable service.

II. Structure

The Structure can be a collective body without a formal registration under the Societies Act for the time being  or as may be decided at this meeting

III. Name.

The participants agreed to form a new organization in the following name with the above five Federations as its members.

Confederation of Bank Pensioners and Retirees Organizations (C.B.P.R.O)

IV.. Action Plan

Our action plan may be decided according priority for achieving our above objectives.

i.Our first option can be to represent our issues with the Government/ IBA/ Management of Banks through negotiations/ meetings.

ii. To seek political support.

iii.To seek support through print and visual media and press conferences

iv.To fix a time frame for the above negotiated efforts depending on the developments

v.Depending upon the progress through negotiated efforts, the other program of direct actions like peaceful Dharna or agitation can be planned..

vi. Against decisions taken deliberately causing untenable and unjust deprivation and discrimination to the pensioners, legal action may be necessary. We should get prepared to resort to legal action although it is very only costly and time consuming. Before taking a decision on resorting to a legal action, sufficient funds should be mobilized.

V. Code of Conduct

i. All members of this apex body should work together for achieving our objectives by strengthening fraternity among ourselves.

ii.All members of this body would do well to commit themselves against any mutual criticism or against carrying on any activity which would not be conducive for maintaining the unity amongst them and

iii.All members of this body should give an assurance that they would always abide by the decisions taken by this body.

VI.Finance

All travelling expenses incurred for attending the meetings of the co-ordination/action committee and also for program action to be organized at different centres will be borne by the respective organizations. The expenses for the future meetings of this committee can also borne by the respective host organization. For the present, finance would be required only for meeting the expenses connected with communications. A token contribution from each member should be sufficient for this purpose .Any other suggestion is welcome.

VII. Formation of a Joint Action Committee

This Committee may consist of a convenor from one Federation and one member each from the other Federations..

7. For the purpose of representing our core pension issues as per the above objectives, a draft of our appeal will be prepared. Decisions on the convenor and other members of the Joint Action Committee will be decided at the next meeting. It was decided to hold the next meeting before the end of August 2015.The list of the participants and the Resolution Passed at this  meeting are enclosed.

P.P.Sankaranaryana Murthy

General Secretary

Federation of SBI Pensioners’ Associations

Chennai

30-07-2015

Source : Bankpensioner google group