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Meeting with Minister of State For Finance
On 19 01 2016. a delegation of Forum of Retired Bank Employees (FORBE) led by veteran trade union leader Mr.K N L Rao, Founder President of Canara Bank Retired Employees Organisation (CBREO) met Mr. Jayant Sinha, Honourable Minister of State for Finance in his home office. The delegation included other prime office bearers of FORBE. The meeting took place at the initiative of FORBE. The delegation included M/s. M D Deshpande, President FORBE, Mankeshwar, S V Chowdhary, Vice Presidents Tatte, EC Member, Sharad Sathe, Vice President CBREO, A N Madhusudan, General Secretary CBREO, D K Badarinath, Office Secretary CBREO.
A memorandum was submitted to the hon’ble minister on behalf of Forum, wherein, some of the major issues relating to retired employees of public sector banks which require the intervention of Finance Ministry, Banking Division were detailed. The meeting was attended by the members of the delegation, Mr. Mohan V Tankasale, Chief Executive Officer of IBA and some of the officials of finance ministry.
The memorandum submitted to the Honourable minister contained the details of the following areas:
01. 100% DA Neutralization of those retired prior to
01.11.2002.
02. Updation of Family Pension.
03. Revision in Ex-Gratia to those who retired before
01.01.1986.
04. One more option of pension to those who had resigned
from service and to CRS officers
05. Regular revision of basic pension along with wage
revision.
06. Interpretation and implementation of Regulation 56 of
Bank Employees Pension Regulations 1995.
07. Implementation of Regulation 26 of Bank Employees
Pension Regulation 1995.
08. Incorrect fitment of pay after promotion resulting in
reduction of pay.
09. Denial of one additional stagnation increment to those
who were in service as on 01.11.2012 and retired before
01.05.2015.
10. Representation of Retirees’ Organizations’ in bi-partite
talks with IBA.
11. Bringing Indian Banks’ Association under Right to
Information Act 2005.
12. Accountability and fixing of responsibility of Indian Banks’
Association as it is a representative of managements of
various banks
13. Anomalies in Medical Insurance scheme by the service
providers by their unilateral action.
Mr. K N L Rao initiated the talks and highlighted several issues affecting the retired bank employees, including 100% neutralization, revision of basic pension, medical insurance and others.
Honourable Minister, Mr.Jayant Sinha gave a patient hearing to the delegation. Later he informed the delegation, the constraints being faced by the public sector banks and also the government to meet the demands of the retired bank employees. He wanted to know the cost outgo from the banks, if all the demands of the Forum are to be met by IBA / Government. The members of the delegation brought to the notice of the minister that all the issues covered in the memorandum does not include cost outgo and that there are several issues which are non monetary in nature. They also informed the minister and other officials that the pension fund in all the public sector banks is quite robust and does not need support from government to meet the expenses towards 100% neutralization and / or revision of family pension.
Other major issue discussed was medical insurance for retired employees formulated by IBA. One of the service providers M/s. United India Insurance company have withdrawn some of the services already agreed upon by them, after getting the premium amount from the retired employees. The glaring example is denial of coverage to domiciliary treatment and non coverage of existing diseases, while the same are covered in the scheme formulated by IBA. This has caused frustration amongst the retired employees who have opted for the insurance scheme.
Another issue was that the Umbrella organisations of retired bank employees have not been invited by IBA while negotiating the wage revision of bank employees. Since the UFBU did not take up the cause of retired employees during the recently concluded wage settlement, gross injustice has been done to various demands of retired employees. Hence, the minister was requested to advise the IBA and others concerned to include the organisations of retired employees for negotiations in future wage settlement.
After listening to the above, finally, the honourable minister advised the CEO of IBA and finance ministry to call for immediate tripartite meeting of IBA, UFBU and Retired Bank Employees Organisations numbering five, to discuss the issues of the memorandum and for redressal of the same.
The delegation thanked the honourable minister for giving his valuable time to the delegation and also for having given a patient hearing.
After the meeting, it was decided to send a letter to IBA formally, about the meeting and also for calling for a meeting of the concerned.
Later, the delegation met Ms.Sumitra Mahajan, Honourable speaker of Lok Sabha The delegation also met Mr. Prakash Javadekar, honourable minister for Environment and Forests at his office on 19 01 2016.
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