BANK UNIONS THREATEN STIR OVER NOTE BAN OVERTIME DUES

NEW DELHI : Unions representing employees of government-run banks have threatened to launch a strike and head to courts if their employers don’t clear overtime dues from the time they worked long hours to handle the demonetisation rush.

The Union government’s November 8 decision to scrap bank notes of ₹500 and ₹1,000 denomination wiped out 86% of the currency in circulation, triggering a countrywide rush as millions ended up in banks to exchange their notes for legal tender.

In some cases, staffers worked 14 hours at a stretch and their leaves were cancelled as the system struggled to deal with the unprecedented chaos.

A majority of those employees who put in extra hours were yet to get additional pay and overtime, almost 11 months since they worked the extra hours. The rush lasted around three months. At present there are about 400,000 employees engaged with these banks. Bank estimates peg the number of staffers who have pending dues at about 400,000.

An additional hour of work will fetch an employee between ₹100 and ₹300 depending on the pay package. The total payout could vary from a few crore rupees to several crores.

“We have brought this issue to the notice of the government,” said CH Venkatachalam, general secretary, AIBEA.

“In case dues are not paid, we will take stringent action... we could even go on strike like we did earlier... we will also look at taking other legal action,” the All India Banks’ Employees Association official told HT.

No bank, according to the unions, cleared the dues in full. The issue was also brought to the attention of finance minister Arun Jaitley and is likely to be taken up in the next meeting with the labour ministry, they said.

“We are yet to understand why banks are not paying the overtime dues to employees who are eligible for overtime dues… this pulls down the morale of the employees,” Ashwani Rana, another union member said.

“At present, there are other pressing issues such as non performing assets (NPA) and screening of bank accounts that these banks need to address on an immediate basis.. HR issues have always taken a back seat for government banks,” a senior official of a Mumbai based public sector bank said.