Bank unions to oppose FRDI Bill

Major bank unions in the country plan to oppose the government’s proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill.

They plan a preliminary depositors’ signature collection campaign, with plans for a nationwide strike if the Bill is introduced in the current session of Parliament.

Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), third largest of the nine bank unions, had planned a meeting in Chennai to decide what to do. Followed by a likely all-union meeting to have a united forum to oppose the Bill. “All the bank unions will be meeting to discuss the road ahead. In case the government pushes to

pass the Bill in the (current) winter session of Parliament, we can go on strike,” Pradip Biswas, general secretary of BEFI, told Business Standard.

Although bank trade unions have said they are opposed, there is no united opposition forum yet. “A joint forum of all the unions will be formed soon to mount opposition,” Sanjay Das, assistant general secretary for Bengal at the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), told this publication.

All India Bank Employees Association, National Confederation of Bank Employees, BEFI and AIBOC have said they have started on a depositors signature collection campaign to stall the Bill. Das says 200,000 signatures are already with them and another 100,000 signed an online petition. Additionally, over Whats-App, petitions with links have been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office, Reserve Bank of India and the Union finance ministry.

The original copy of signatures collected by BEFI will be sent to the Lok Sabha speaker.

The signature campaign also asks the government to make public the names of loan defaulters every six months, ensure accountability of bank executives for bad loans and amendment in the loan recovery procedure. Additionally, unions are demanding that the government declare wilful and deliberate defaulters as criminals.