Extract from All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) Resolutions Book
Resolution
RECRUITMENTS IN BANKS
Adequate recruitment of staff in all cadres in the banks has become an urgent necessity since large number of existing vacancies remain unfilled. Even though after continuous, consistent and concerted struggles by AIBEA, individually and with UFBU, has resulted in lifting the ban on recruitment that lasted for over nearly two decades and the banks have started recruiting employees in clerical and officers’ cadre, there is still a large number of vacancies yet to be filled up.
Over the last few years, the total business volume has increased in the banks and owing to the competition among the banks, a new service or a new product is being introduced to the customers on a day-to-day basis. The traditional banking has given way to product banking. Innumerable services have been introduced including selling of third party products coupled with the fact that the total traditional banking business getting doubled. However, the recruitment has not matched with the workload
increase. While the workload increase is manifold, the recruitment made by the banks is a pittance. In many banks, after the merger, there has been a sharp decline in the recruitment even though the workload has increased and in some other, there is no recruitment in the past few years.
The jobs and job security of the bank employees have been the plank of several agitations launched by AIBEA in the last 32 years since the advent of the neo-liberal banking reforms that started way back in 1991, the private sector banks have been dubious in not appointing permanent employees in the feeder cadres and instead resort to engaging contract workers for performing permanent and perennial jobs.
Even though the Banks’ business has increased exponentially, it did not match with adequate recruitment. The vacancies under substaff and sweepers’ cadres are not given due importance and the recruitments are comparatively less in clerical cadre and almost NIL in Substaff and Sweepers’ cadres. On a conservative estimate, in award staff cadre, there are more than 2 lakh vacancies and they have to be filled up to ensure adequate staff at the counters to commensurate with the increasing workload.
The volume of business has increased manifold but because of the inadequate staff strength, the staff at the counter are finding it difficult to extend courteous and quality customer service to the clientele of the banks.
Banking Service Recruitment Board (BSRB) was abolished during the BJP-led
NDA regime in early 2000s and the recruitment of bank employees now is entrusted to Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), a private society registered in Mumbai, which has secured a license to recruit clerical and officer staff by conducting examinations. The recruitment made through IBPS in the Public Sector Banks over the past few years would reveal the factual position that the recruitment does not match with the attrition due to promotions, retirement, natural wastages etc.
The 29th Conference of All India Bank Employees’ Association that is being at Mumbai from 13th to 15th May, 2023, demands that adequate recruitments in feeder cadres viz., clerical, substaff and sweepers, should be made by the banks and calls upon the managements of the Banks to recruit adequate award staff immediately and calls upon the Government to advise the banks to fill up all the vacancies. However, should the managements of the banks do not take steps to recruit adequate staff in clerical, substaff and sweeper cadres, the 29th Conference of AIBEA that is being held at Mumbai from 13th to 15th May, 2023, decides to launch organizational and agitational actions including strikes and authorizes the incoming office-bearers to take such decisions as deemed fit and necessary to achieve this important demand of recruitment in banks.