Recently, the associates and members of the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) — the apex trade union of supervisory cadre bank employees in India — protested and demonstrated across strategic offices and branches of Standard Chartered Bank in the country.
A circular from the AIBOC, Kolkata congratulates all employees and associates who participated in hundreds to demonstrate against the management of Standard Chartered Bank.
AIBOC Kolkata mentions in the circular that after repeated requests, the management of Standard Chartered Bank has delayed the process of recognising the Association of Standard Chartered Bank Officers (Kolkata) ASCBO. They point out that AIBOC has also sent a detailed memorandum to the CEO of the global lender, which mentions that as per Article 19 (1) (C) of the Constitution of India, it is a fundamental right of bank officers to form associations and unions and any attempt to foil the same amounts to violation of the fundamental rights of members of ASCBO, which will will not be tolerated by AIBOC.
The Union has alleged that the Bank does not offer appropriate work conditions to the employees, and that its working atmosphere is far from satisfactory. The Union demands that the Bank to put an end to its ‘hire and fire’ policy.
As per the memorandum, if the Bank does not agree to have a dialogue with the associates of ASCBO on issues pertaining to improvement of service conditions, or creation of a congenial working atmosphere, improvement of emoluments or doing away with the ‘hire and fire’ policy, demonstrations will soon be scaled up, which is bound to tarnish the reputation of the global bank.
