Akhilesh Chandra Saxena
Tripartite talks called by Assistant Labor Commissioner-(Central) Bareilly failed
Bareilly: Nainital Bank employees have been agitating for the last several months over their various demands and the talks called by ALC Bareilly failed. Now, 7 days after the talks failed, Nainital Bank employees will be on strike on 4 September.
Nainital Bank, which is a subsidiary bank of Bank of Baroda, has 98.57% shareholding in it. Now Bank of Baroda is working on the process of selling its shareholding and handing over the operation of Nainital Bank to private hands, due to which there is anger among the employees of the bank.
Like other public sector banks, Nainital Bank has been operating for the last 102 years, due to which the Reserve Bank of India has ordered Bank of Baroda several times in the past to acquire Nainital Bank and merge it with itself and in June 2022, once again RBI has written a letter to the Ministry of Finance and recommended the immediate merger of Nainital Bank with Bank of Baroda or any other public sector bank.
The employees of Nainital Bank allege that Bank of Baroda has been trying to sell the banking license of Nainital Bank to private hands since 2017, as a result of which the employees of Nainital Bank took the matter to the Petition Committee of the Lok Sabha. The digital venture which was started to reduce shareholding cost the bank around Rs 10 crore.
In the investigation of the Petition Committee of the 16th Lok Sabha, irregularities were found in the said digital venture, due to which it was closed and the committee recommended the merger of Nainital Bank with Bank of Baroda in the year 2018, and in the year 2020, the Petition Committee of the 17th Lok Sabha once again ordered the Finance Ministry to merge Nainital Bank with Bank of Baroda, but till now no action has been taken on the said recommendation, regarding which a delegation of Nainital Bank employees, led by MP Anil Baluni, also met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the month of January.
Then the Finance Minister had assured action on this after the elections. The employees and officers’ association of Nainital Bank jointly gave their memorandum of demands to the bank management on August 8, 2024 under the Nainital Bank United Forum and gave a notice of a one-day symbolic strike on August 27 if their demands were not met, but on August 23, 2024, the Assistant Labor Commissioner- Bareilly mediated and called for talks on August 27 itself, after which the employees had to defer their proposed strike.
Even in the recent talks, the bank management did not show any positive attitude on the demands of the employees and the talks failed.
General Secretary of the Employees’ Organization Praveen Sah said that tampering with the future of the employees of the bank will not be tolerated. The bank has been functioning for 102 years like other public sector banks. Nainital Bank’s disinvestment should be stopped and it should be merged with Bank of Baroda or any other public sector bank as recommended by the Reserve Bank of India in June 2022 by writing a letter to the Finance Ministry.
He further said that he will fight a do-or-die battle for the secure future of the employees, for which he will definitely take to the streets even if he has to. Nainital Bank Staff Association Vice President Mukesh Pant said that the employees of Nainital Bank are currently working in the subsidiary bank of Bank of Baroda like other public sector banks, where the future of the employees is secure, so why should we make our future insecure by going into private hands.
The only way to secure the future of the employees is to merge Nainital Bank with Bank of Baroda. On the other hand, the General Secretary of the Officers’ Organization, Piyush Payal, said that the main demands of the employees are as follows –
* Stop selling Nainital Bank to private hands in the name of disinvestment
* Ensure a secure future for bank employees
* Stop unilateral changes in the service conditions of employees
* Secure the service conditions of employees
* Implement the recommendations of the Petition Committee (Lok Sabha)
* Implement the recommendations of the Reserve Bank (RBI)
* Stop playing with the future of employees and officers
* Stop selling banking licenses in the name of disinvestment
* Investigate the irregularities in digital ventures and IT upgradation
* Withdraw the suspension of officers suspended without completing the investigation
* Stop recruiting employees without written examination
Piyush Payal further said that all the employees and officers are working with black bands tied on their hands in protest. Bank of Baroda and Nainital Bank management are adopting a lax attitude towards our demands. Our strike on 27th August was symbolic which had to be postponed as ALC-C Bareilly called us for negotiations on the day of strike.
With talks failing they are legally free to go on strike after 7 days. Under which all the employees will be on a one day strike on the coming 4th. If the demands are not met, then they will have to take more stringent steps which include indefinite strike for which Bank of Baroda management and Nainital Bank management will be fully responsible.
