Bank Unions Oppose Government’s modified PLI Scheme for Senior Officers in Bank

 

The recent modifications to the Performance-Linked Incentive (PLI) program for top bank executives made by the Department of Financial Services (DFS), which is part of the Finance Ministry, have been vehemently challenged by the All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA). According to the union, the new formula is unjust, goes against earlier agreements, and causes conflict among workers.

Bank workers can receive additional financial rewards through the PLI scheme, which is dependent on their performance. In 2018, the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) first proposed a plan in which rewards would be granted according to each employee's performance. 

 PLI should be based on the overall success of a bank, not on the performance of individual employees, according to the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), which represents bank unions. Services related to credit cards Following talks, PLI would be determined by each bank's total performance, as affirmed by the 11th Bipartite Settlement (BPS) and 8th Joint Note, which were signed in November 2020.

 June 2024 saw additional revisions to this agreement, but the fundamental framework stayed the same: rewards were to be given according to on collective performance.

What has changed now?

In November 2024, the Government of India (DFS, Finance Ministry) changed the system without consulting bank unions. The new rule states that PLI for Scale IV officers and above (senior management) will now be based on individual performance instead of the collective performance of the bank.

This change only affects officers in Scale IV and above, while junior officers and clerical staff will continue to receive incentives based on the bank’s overall performance.

Why are bank unions opposing this change?

The AIBEA and other bank unions have raised strong objections to the government’s move. They argue that:

It is a unilateral decision: The PLI scheme was originally decided bilaterally between IBA and UFBU. The government did not consult bank unions before making this change.

It creates division: Under the new rule, some senior officers will receive huge incentives, while lower-level employees will get much less.

It is discriminatory: While a few officers will get a very high PLI, many deserving employees will not receive anything.

It is unfair to banks as a whole: If a bank performs poorly due to external reasons (such as fraud or government policies), the entire workforce suffers, even if some employees worked hard.

It violates previous agreements: The UFBU had already agreed on a collective PLI system in previous wage agreements, and this sudden change goes against that.

In opposition to this decision, the AIBEA and other bank unions have chosen to demonstrate. They insist that the government go back to the original collective performance model and remove the current individual-based PLI system. Bank officers and staff are currently awaiting additional talks between the government, the Indian Banks' Association, and bank unions. In the upcoming months, there might be bank staff strikes and widespread rallies if the government doesn't change its mind. 

The government's new PLI system has been met with fierce criticism from bank unions. Bank unions are concerned that this may result in discrimination, inequality, and needless competition among employees, despite the government's claim that individual incentives will improve performance.

The coming weeks will be crucial in deciding whether this issue will escalate into a major confrontation between bank employees and the government.

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Latest Update on Bank Strike: Reconciliation Meeting Held Today

 
A reconciliation conference involving the IBA, bank associations, and bank management was held today. This conference was attended by the labor commissioner and the management of all public sector banks. On March 24 and 25, 2025, Bank employees announced a strike, prompting the demand for the reconciliation meeting. 

 Due to demands like 5-day banking not being met, the bank associations have declared a strike. The meeting was place today, but no agreement could be reached. Therefore, the next meeting is scheduled for March 21, 2025, at 11:30 a.m. 

 The CLC office was the location of the meeting. The bank management, DFS, and IBA were all present. Every topic was covered. Regarding the concerns, particularly recruitment, 5-day banking, and unilateral PLI, there was no improvement.

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Bank Officers Union announces All India strike against New Transfer Policy

The All India Bank of Baroda Officers’ Association has declared a strike in protest against the bank management’s new anti-officer transfer policy. According to the circular, officers who have completed 6 years in the officers’ cadre within their current zone can request a transfer to another zone of their preference after this period. The union views this policy as unjust due to the lengthy 6-year duration and is demanding a reduction in the required duration.

The BOB Officers’ Union has threatened an All India Strike if the revised transfer policy is not revoked. They argue that the current policy imposes undue hardship on officers and are advocating for a more flexible approach to transfers.

• Black Badge/Black ribbon wearing from Monday, 29th April.

• Submission of Memorandum to all Regional Heads addressed to our Bank’s MD&CEO by team of Office bearers/Activists on 30th April 2024 evening.

• Demonstrations outside all Regional Offices on one evening during the period 1st May to 4th May 2024, taking into account the election model code of conduct as applicable in the relevant area.

• All India Strike on 7th June 2024, after General Elections are over. In the meantime, we shall serve Strike Notice to the Bank.

The last year transfer policy/IZT were exercised with criteria of 3 years for lady officers and 4 years for Male officers and now with policy being changed to 6 years, the sudden increase in the minimum relaxation tenure for this IZT(Inter Zone Transfer) exercise is creating panic among the officers and demoralising concerned officers and their family members, who have been posted outside the parent zone during previous IZT exercises.

Earlier officers with age of 55 are eligible for retransfer to their parent zone or to the zone of their choice, now in this IZT policy the age criteria has been increased to 58 years which is ruthless.

The IZT policy eligible period for the employees being 6 years is very long and staying away from families is unbearable, which adversely impact family life of the officer’s.

Since 2019 there is no recruitment in Bank and all previous IZT batches have been retransferred with 3 / 4 years ( lady staff 3 years) criteria, Management’s sudden shift to 6 Years minimum tenure is demoralizing officer employees as there is no work life balance in our bank due to IZT Transfers.

Many of the lady officers were undergoing fertility treatments and still were transferred midway and suffered due to delay in treatment due to IZT Still there are some officers whose IZT request has been rejected in earlier IZT exercises for shortage of a day or two with respect to the cutoff date. But these officers has been identified by the Management during the IZT 2019-20 and relieved late by the respective zonal office/regional office which in turn effected the officers during retransfer to the parent zone.

The Management is thinking that they have given enough concession for women and men under the IZT policy but they have forgotten that most of the employees who have undergone IZT posting have been undergoing physical and mental agony, since many of the officers have left their families back at their parent zone due to health problem of parents/in laws, nontransferable employment of spouse, education problem of children etc. This IZT policy has further demotivated and shut down the hope of these officers of getting back to their family.

Every year all the officers of the bank are obeying the instructions of the top management and undergoing the IZT even though they are facing some personal problems with a hope that they will be transferred back to the parent zone after completion of 3 years’ service.

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Bank employees keen on early start to wage talks, says BEFI leader

Bank employees numbering several lakh, across public, regional rural and old generation private banks in the country, are keen on an early start to the next round of wage negotiations between the unions that represent the workforce and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

“Wage revision is due since November 2022. Since the last, 11th bipartite settlement effective November 2017 (reached in November 2020), we observe banks are not smoothly authorising IBA to start negotiations,” General Secretary of the Bank Employees’ Federation of India (BEFI) Debasish Basu Chaudhury said in an interaction.

While some banks delay their mandate to IBA, a few authorise the association to negotiate only up to a particular payscale as beyond that, they desire to have their own arrangements with the officers, he said, adding this time too when the unions insisted on launch of discussions, IBA said most banks were yet to give their mandate. “A few days ago, the United Forum of Bank Unions had urged IBA to start negotiations pending whatever mandate. This is where we are standing,” he said. In the last settlement, a 15% pay increase formed the core of the agreement.

Five-day week

Mr. Chaudhury, who was in Hyderabad for BEFI Telangana unit’s second conference recently, said the delay in wage talks is not the only concern as the bank workforce is also awaiting implementation of a five-day week in banks agreed at the last bipartite settlement.

The five-day week — with all Saturdays being holidays as against the second and fourth now — was a long-standing demand of unions and came in the backdrop of the employees and officers hard-pressed amid changes in government policies. Their numbers have reduced drastically and non-banking business such as mutual funds, insurance have increased and targets for the same set for employees. A reduction in number of banks has also meant closure of thousands of branches 2019 onwards. With the workforce logging more hours daily, work-life balance has become more important than before, he said, pointing out to how Central, many State governments as well as stock exchanges follow a five-day week.

The bank unions have already authorised IBA to increase work hours by 40 minutes a day to compensate for the time reduced on account of all Saturday holidays. The proposal is before the Centre with an understanding that the Finance Ministry will discuss it with other stakeholders. He expressed confidence that all concerned will consent, especially alternative banking delivery channels becoming popular.

Besides better wages and other demands of employees, BEFI is fighting for strengthening of banks, including RRBs and those private, measures to safeguard public money and opposed to privatisation of banks, he said.

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Bank officers’ union launches nationwide movement against privatisation

Bank officers’ union on Tuesday launched nationwide movement against proposed privatisation of stat-owned lenders. ‘Bank Bachao Desh Bachao Rally’ was held at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Tuesday attended by officers and other stakeholders from various parts of the country, the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) said in a statement.

Addressing the rally, AIBOC General Secretary Soumya Datta appealed to the government to withdraw the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which has been listed for introduction and passing in the winter session of Parliament.

“In case the government tables and passes the bill paving the way for the privatisation of the public sector banks, the bank officers will unite all the stakeholders of the banking sector and launch a nationwide agitation,” he said, urging the bankers to draw inspiration from the farmers movement.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting Budget 2021-22 earlier this year had announced the privatisation of public sector banks (PSBs) as part of disinvestment drive to garner Rs 1.75 lakh crore. The Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, to be introduced during the session is expected to bring down the minimum government holding in the PSBs from 51 per cent to 26 per cent.

In the last concluded session, Parliament passed a bill to allow privatisation of state-run general insurance companies. The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021, removed the requirement of the central government to hold at least 51 per cent of the equity capital in a specified insurer.

The Act, which came into force in 1972, provided for the acquisition and transfer of shares of Indian insurance companies and undertakings of other existing insurers in order to serve better the needs of the economy by securing the development of general insurance business.

Government think-tank NITI Aayog has already suggested two banks and one insurance company to Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment for privatisation. According to sources, Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank are likely candidates for the privatisation.

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Bank unions given call for two-day nationwide strike against proposed privatisation of PSBs

 

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine unions, has given a call for a two-day strike from December 16 to protest against the proposed privatisation of two state-owned lenders. In the Union Budget presented in February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the privatisation of two public sector banks (PSBs) as part of its disinvestment plan.

The government has already privatised IDBI Bank by selling its majority stake in the lender to LIC in 2019 and merged 14 public sector banks in the past four years.

The government has listed the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, for introduction and passage during the current session of Parliament.

In view of this, UFBU has decided to oppose the move for privatisation, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) General Secretary C H Venkatachalam said in a statement.

Strike notice for December 16 and December 17, 2021, has been served by UFBU on the IBA, he said.

Hence, he said, for the past 25 years, under the banner of UFBU "we have been opposing the policies of banking reforms which are aimed at weakening public sector banks".

Members of UFBU include All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA) and Bank Employees Confederation of India (BEFI).

Others are Indian National Bank Employees Federation (INBEF), Indian National Bank Officers Congress (INBOC), National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) and National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO).

In a developing country like India, where banks deal with huge public savings and they have to play a leading role to ensure broad-based economic development, public sector banking with social orientation is the most appropriate and imperative need, he said.

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Minutes of Discussion between IBA &Workmen Unions on 10th Dec

Discussion between IBA &Workmen Unions 

A discussion between the Negotiating Committee of IBA and Workmen Unions (except BEFI) took place today in Mumbai. The meeting was held to discuss residual issues of Common Charter of Demand.  A supplementary minutes of today’s discussions is also available in social media.

We  observe from the minutes that two of the sensitive issues, among others, centring round which we took stand not to sign the MoU on 22nd July 2020, have been placed at the top of list for discussion. These are 5 day week and updation of pension. We feel that these issues should have been discussed with due importance and finalised while inking 11th BPS.

So far 5 day week is concerned, on the day of MoU, from BEFI we sought IBA's view on this. The negotiating committee remained silent on that day. The then Chairman of IBA told in an earlier meeting that IBA is not in favour of 5 day week as bank employees of our country are already enjoying more leaves comparing with other countries of the world. The stand of IBA seems to be unchanged as they reiterated their view unambiguously in today’s meeting also. We understand that so long IBA doesn’t change their stand on this matter, the issue is not likely to be referred to other stake holders.

In regard to periodical updation of pension on the occasions of wage revision and updation of pension for existing pensioners, the IBA is maintaining their self contradictory position. It is mentioned in the Minutes as comments/response of IBA that the current details of the Pension Fund in various Banks are being collected and based on these details, actuarial working also needs to be done. The IBA, all along the negotiation process, had been claiming that updation of pension require huge amount of money. When details of Pension Fund of all banks are not available with IBA, how they calculated fund requirement we wonder. Moreover, details of Pension Funds of most of the banks are available to different retiree organizations obtained through Right to Information which were duly forwarded to IBA. It is IBA who are finding difficulties to get the details from their member banks which are undergoing audit every year. 

Secondly, the IBA during negotiation proposed for ad hoc increase and that too in phases starting with the earlier pensioners. The idea of truncated revision of pension has been reiterated in today’s Minutes wherein it is mentioned that, IBA is quite sympathetic to the issue, especially revision in pension for those who have retired under earlier Settlement periods when the emoluments were relatively lesser than at present. While we also feel that the amount of pension of the employees/officers retired during earlier settlements are very low but this idea has been mooted to create  division among the pensioners which  should not be allowed. Our struggle must continue for updation for all as had been done recently in RBI and no ad hoc increase, the pension is to be revised in RBI pattern.

Comrades, we must not lose our focus on other important issues. Along with 5 day week and updation/revision of pension in RBI pattern, our endeavour should remain for scrapping of NPS and extension of defined benefit pension scheme to all. 

We are going to lodge our strong protest against engagement of Apprentices in large scale by SBI, which has also declared a VRS scheme targeting as many as 30000 employees/officers. The banks are recruiting inadequate number of employees; more and more routine jobs are being outsourced. We seriously consider that need of the hour is sustained joint movement in the industry under the banner of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU). We shall take necessary initiative in that direction.

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This Bank Union announced 'No Levy from the Members'

Canara Bank Officers Organization (CBOO) has announced that they would not charge any levy from any of their members for 11th Bipartite Wage Settlement. They had not charged the levy in previous settlement also.

The 11th BPS Wage revision was finalized on 11th Nov 2020 with three years delay.

This is really a very appreciating step and eye opener for other unions, many of them have already announced a hefty levy from their members. 

Many of the members have shown their displeasure in collecting the levy by the unions post 11th BPS settlement. There is no point of collecting monies for the common cause. 11th BPS Wage settlement is the common cause and the expenses can be adjusted towards the monthly collection. 

It pinches if the demands of the members are not fulfilled. The major demands of the bankers like 5 days banking or 20% hike were not at all considered and fulfilled by the banker Unions.

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