CENTRAL TRADE UNIONS INTUC-AITUC-HMS-CITU-AIUTUC-UTUC-TUCC-AICCTU, LPF

GIVE A CLARION CALL FOR ALL INDIA GENERAL STRIKE ON 7TH SEPTEMBER, 2010

AGAINST

 Alarming price rise  Huge job losses  Large scale Disinvestments in public Sector  Rampant violation of labour laws  Lack of adequate protection to unorganized workers

MORE THAN 60 MILLION WORKERS ARE EXPECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS STRIKE

AIBEA GIVES THE CALL FOR ALL INDIA STRIKE IN BANKS ON 7TH SEPTEMBER, 2010

WORLD FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS (WFTU)

GIVES A CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION ON 7TH SEPTEMBER, 2010

TUs plan another Bharat bandh on Sept 7

Buoyed up by the ‗success‘ of the 12-hour strike earlier this month, the trade union wings of all major parties, including the Congress, have planned yet another Bharat bandh on September 7 to protest spiralling prices.

At a meeting of the major TUs here on Thursday, it was decided that a 24-hour bandh would be organised all over the country crippling crucial sectors like telecom, banking, transport and mining.

A new feature of the September strike, according to TU sources, would be the participation of the Congress-affiliated INTUC. INTUC chief and a Congress MP D Sanjeeva Reddy has been appointed convener for the TU council spearheading the strike effort.

AITUC leader and CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta said, "I hope Reddy will fight our battle within Congress as well."

The other issues the strike will focus on are the government's `flawed' economic policy, disinvestment in the PSUs and the `unkept promise' of a welfare scheme for the unorganised sector.

A meeting of the IBA and officers unions was held on 03rd April, 2010,

Basic Pay Rs.14500/- - Rs.52000/-.
Medical Aid –Rs.5100 / upto Scale III; Above Scale III – Rs.6320/-
Stagnation Increment for Scale I, II and III – 2 increments.
Next round of discussion on Residual Issues – 9th & 10th April 2010.
On common issues UFBU meeting with IBA on 12.04.2010 for finalizing Pension draft
Settlement will be signed on 15.04.2010
SCALESJMGS-I - Rs.14, 500/- TO Rs.31, 500/- (including two additional stagnation increments)MMGS-II - Rs.19, 400/- TO Rs.34, 200/- (including two additional stagnation increments)MMGS-III - Rs.25, 700/- TO Rs.35, 100/- (including two additional stagnation increments)SMGS-IV - Rs.30, 600/- TO Rs.36, 200/-SMGS-V - Rs.36, 200/- TO Rs.40, 400/-TEG-VI - Rs.42,000/- TO Rs.46,800/-TEG-VII - Rs.46,800/- TO Rs.52,000/-DEARNESS ALLOWANCE :- For every 4 points rise/fall in index, Dearness Allowance at 0.15% per slab.CITY COMPENSATARY ALLOWANCE : We have freezed the existing CCA and utilized the amount towardsimprovement in Basic Pay. Accordingly, CCA rates will be as under;Places in Area I - 4% of Basic Pay, Max. Rs.540/- p.m.Places with population of more than 5 lacs - 3% of Basic Pay,Max. Rs.375/- p.m.HOUSE RENT ALLOWANCEWe have retained the existing rate of HRA as under: Major A class cities - 8.5% Other places in Area I - 7.5% Other places - 6.5%MEDICAL AID –For officers other than SBI, the medical aid has been enhanced as;Scale I to III – Rs. 5100/- p.a.Scale IV & above - Rs. 6320/- p.a.STAGNATION INCREMENTS:It is a fact that majority of senior officers in Scale I to III are stagnated as promotions are linked to vacancies. Hence, we have ensured to add two additional stagnation increments in these scales.Date of Effect : 1st November 2007.

FINAL UNDERSTANDING WITH IBA - WORKMAN STAFF - 03/04/2010

As per schedule, next round of talks were held between five workmen unions and IBA. In this meeting the following points have emerged :-
"final understandings have been reached on the various service conditions;
chart on distribution of the total increase of Rs. 2557 crores to various heads has been finalized.
The next date of meeting has been fixed as 7th April, 2010, when the draft settlement will be discussed for finalisation;
The signing of the final settlement is likely to be completed by middle of April, 2010
FINAL UNDERSTANDING WITH WORKMEN UNIONS:
1. Scales of Pay:
Clerical Staff: 6200 – 400 x 3 – 7400 – 500 x3 – 8900 – 600 x 4 – 11300 – 700 x 7 – 16200 – 1300 x 1 – 17500 – 800 x 1 – 18300.Substaff: 5500 – 200 x 4 – 6300 – 250 x 5 – 7550 – 300 x 4 – 8750 – 350 x 3 – 9800 – 400 x 3 – 11000.

2. Stagnation Increment:Clerical : 7 stagnation increments (800 x 6 once in 3 years & 800 (7th) after 2 years)Substaff : 7 stagnation increments (400 x 7 once in 2 years)
Thus, the above pay scales when Extended for Stagnation increments will be as follows:
Clerical : 6200 – 18000 – 23900. (We think 18,000 is wrongly reported by unions. It should read as 18,300)Substaff: 5500 – 11000 – 13800.

3. DA: 0.15% per slab over 2836 points

4. HRA: a) Places over 45 lacs : 10.00%b) 12 to 45 lacs : 9.00%c) 5 to 12 lacs : 7.50%d) Below 5 lacs : 7.00%

5. Transport Allowance: (For Clerks and Substaff)Upto 15th Stage : Rs. 225 per month (i.e. upto Rs.14100/- basic for clerical staff; and upto Rs.9100 for sub-staff)16th Stage and above : Rs. 275 per month (i.e. from Basic 14800/- onwards Basic Pay for clerical staff; and from Rs.9450 onwards for substaff)

6. Special Pay:For November, 2007 to April, 2010: Existing Special Pay will be revised and arrears paid.From May, 2010:Present No Special Pay holders : Rs. 1000/-Present Special Pay holders : Rs. 1500/-Head Cashier II : Rs. 1780/-Special Assistant : Rs. 2180/-(Note: Out of this, Rs. 1000/- will be added to Basic Pay and balance will continue as Special Pay.)

7. Fixed Personal Pay & PQP : Will be revised based on new basic pay.

8. Hill and Fuel Allowance: For placesa) 3000 meters and above : 8% maximum Rs. 1295/-b) 1500 – 3000 meters : 4% maximum Rs. 510/-
c) Over 1000 meters + Mercara : 3% maximum Rs. 410

9. Medical Aid: Rs. 2000/- per year10. Hospitalisation Scheme: Being improved with revised schedule, etc.

11. Part Time Employees: (Lump sum)
From November, 2007 to April, 2010 :- Upto 3 hours per week : Rs. 1030/- 3 to 6 hours per week : Rs. 1440/-From May, 2010 : All will be brought to 1/3rd Scale wages.

12. Halting Allowance: Being increased13. Washing Allowance: Rs. 100/- per month14. Cycle Allowance: Rs. 75/- per month15. Split Duty Allowance: Rs. 125/- per month

16. Project Area Compensatory Allowance: Group A Centres / Group B Centres Clerks : Rs. 205/- per month / Rs. 180/- per month Substaff : Rs. 180/- per month / Rs. 150/- per month

17. Special Area Allowance: Being revised.
18. Reimbursement in Road Travel: Actual road mileage cost or Rs. 3 per Km whichever is less.

19. Pension: Another option will be given to all existing employees and those who have retired / died after pension regulation 1995 / 1996.
20. Gratuity: Will be payable on revised Basic Pay from 1.11.200721. Provident Fund: 10% of pay from 1.11.2007

22. Definition of dependence under family: Upto monthly income of Rs. 3500/-
23. Compensation for losses due to breakage or damage to goods on transfer: With Receipt/ Without Receipt Clerks : Rs. 1120/- / Rs. 745/- Substaff: Rs. 745/- / Rs. 560/-24. Special Leave for Women: Within the maternity leave entitlement, women employees can avail 45 days special leave for undergoing hysterectomy operation
25. Effective Date: 1st November, 2007

CONCLUSION OF 9TH BIPARTITE IS IN SIGHT NEXT ROUND OF MEETING WITH IBA SLATED FOR 3RD APRIL, 2010

We are happy to inform all our members that amidst lot of speculation and apprehensions, the final stage for inking the cost sheet as regards the distribution of the wage hike to various components of salary allowances is now ultimately likely to happen on 3rd April 2010 as agreed between the representatives of the Officers’ Organisations and the IBA, thus putting an end to the uncertainty that prevailed all these days.
2. Keeping with the rich tradition that the Confederation has been maintaining, we did not share the minute details of the negotiations which basically consisted of apportionment of the load factor on allthe major components of salary and thereafter the superannuation cost. The negotiations were tough since the Government and IBA were hard on several issues relating to cost towards superannuation benefits including the incremental cost. The Confederation could exert its pressure to the extent possible to remove the burden on the Officers through continuous dialogue with the representatives of IBA including the Chairman of IBA. 3. The leadership of the Confederation had taken lot of initiatives and has been in touch with the IBA including the Chairman of IBA to ensure that some of our major demands are met apart from the smooth extension of 2nd Option on Pension. Some of the major demands have been accepted in principle by the IBA and enough care has been taken to ensure that the Officers get a fair deal. Therefore these positive developments must be attributed to the maturity and statesmanship exhibited by the leadership of the Confederation and also their persuasive skills in arriving at an amicable settlement in the current negotiations.
4. In the meeting of UFBU held on 31.03.2010, after detailed discussions, it was decided to finalise the settlement on wage revision and pension option without further delay. It was also agreed that, the issue of equalising the cost of PF and pension balancing by the IBA to be accepted without any conditions. As regards reworking of cost of Pension as proposed by us, IBA did not agree to assume the number of employees who would remain in PF. After detailed discussions, it was decided not to press this issue further.

5. On effective date of Pension Option, IBA maintained that it would be from the date of settlement and not from 01.04.2008 as demanded by us. The UFBU would pursue this issue further.

6. Comrades, there are a number of rumors spread across the country by some of the mischievous elements to create confusion amongst the rank and file. We only hope that the patience and perseverance by the Confederation will be bringing the best results on the 3rd April 2010 to all our members and we advise them to keep their cool and not to heed to mischievous propaganda by our detractors and also look for our further communication on 3rd April 2010 in this regard.

BIPARTITE TALKS WITH IBA as on 03-04-2010

UFBU Meeting: A meeting of the UFBU was held today morning in Mumbai under the presidentship of Com. L. Balasubramanian (President, NCBE). After detailed discussions, it was decided that all efforts should be taken to sort out the common issues with the IBA and finalise the settlement on wage revision and pension option without any further delay.Meeting with IBA: Another round of Bipartite Talks were held between IBA and UFBU today afternoon. IBA was represented by Mr.Ramakrishnan, Chief Executive and other Executives. Representatives of all our nine Unions were present in his meeting. In today’sdiscussions we took up the common issues like effective date of pension option, equalizing the cost between PF and Pension components, re-working the cost of pension for the employees/officers now in PF and migrating to pension scheme after option , taking into account the possibility of some employees continuing in PF scheme, retirements taken place from 1-11-2007, etc. On the issue of equalizing the cost of PF and Pension, IBA did not agree to our earlier proposal and hence it has been agreed that thesame would be worked out by balancing the corresponding costs of these two components.On the effective date of pension option, IBA maintained that the while option would be made available to both existing employees and retired employees, it would be effective from the date of Settlement and not
from 1-4-2008 as demanded by us. UFBU would pursue this issue further.On the issue of re-working the cost of pension as proposed by us, IBA did not agree with our proposals to assume the number of employees who would remain in PF, etc. and rather proposed to go with the actual number after implementation of the pension option instead of going by any assumptions. After discussions amongst the constituents, it was decided not to press this issue further and the IBA was accordingly informed of the same.NEXT MEETING: It has been decided that the next round of meeting with IBA will take place on 3rd April, 2010 – with the workmen unions in the forenoon and with officers associations in the afternoon. In this meeting on 3rd April, efforts would be taken to finalise the distribution of the total amount ( Rs. 2577 crores per year for workmen and Rs. 2239 crores per year for officers ) to various heads like Basic Pay, DA, Stagnation Increments, HRA and other allowances, Medical Aid, PF, Gratuity, Pension, etc. based on the discussions held so far with the IBA. All other connected matters would also be sorted out.After finalsing this distribution chart on 3-4-2010, the date would be fixed up for signing the Settlement on Wage Revision and PensionOption.

SBI General Insurance begins operations in Mumbai

SBI General Insurance, the non-life subsidiary of public sector lender State Bank of India, on Saturday formally announced the launch of its operations beginning with Mumbai.“Initially, we will write policies in Mumbai. We will start full-fledged operations pan-India once our IT infrastructure is put in place,” SBI Chief General Manager (New Initiatives), R.K. Garg, told PTI here.The company expects to start full-scale operations by Q2 of the next financial year, he said.“To begin with, we propose to offer 2-3 products in commercial segments,” he said.The company has filed for 22 products, both in retail and commercial segments with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and is expecting approval for the rest of the products soon, he said.SBI General Insurance is a 74:26 joint venture between State Bank of India (SBI) and Australia-based Insurance Australia Group (IAG).The company, which would be the 22nd player in the general insurance industry, received its R3 approval for starting the company in December last year.The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of (CEO) of the company is R.R. Bele.A representative of IAG-Rob Logie-has been appointed as the Deputy CEO of the company.The company has a capital base of Rs. 653-crore, including premium.SBI also has a life insurance joint venture-SBI Life Insurance with BNP Paribas Assurance.