All India Bank Officers’ Confederation urged the government to settle down the issue of giving one more option for pension to the bank employees at the earliest.

Addressing a press meet here on Sunday, Confederation Joint General Secretary T R Bhat said that though the government had assured to solve the issue by June 30, nothing is materialised so far. Unions may be compelled to agitate in the future, he warned.

Wage revision

He said the existing wage settlement of the bank employees will expire in November. Salary revision must take care of the market reality.

Stating that starting salary of a junior officer at an entry level in banks is much lower than the starting salary of a BPO employee, he said such discrimination in salary will take away the talent from the banking sector. There is a high rate of attrition as trained and experienced officers of public sector banks are taken away by private, new generation banks, he added.

Working hours

Mr Bhat said that there is a need to regulate the working hours for the bank officers. The work life balance has been affected because of the late sitting and working on holidays. There is no compensation for such additional work for the officers.

HR policy

Stating that there is no serious thought on the HR management in the banking sector, he said that HR policy must be reviewed according to the needs of the banking sector.

Training needs and post training placements, rotation, motivation, career map, plan for skill developments, succession plan needs to be focussed in public sector banks. By 2015, there will be a serious manpower crisis as those who were recruited between 1977 and 1986 will be retiring causing serious vacuum. Recruitments to the banks have come down after 1980s and 1990s.

Foreign banks

Mr Bhat informed that banking sector will be opened for foreign banks to have their wholly owned subsidiaries in 2009. Foreign banks can take over the private banks with small capital. The Federation is against such takeovers. Public Sector Banks also should be encouraged to take over old generation banks, he added.  Earlier, All India Bank Officers’ Confederation 13th regional general body meeting was held.