CHARTER OF DEMANDS FOR 11TH BIPARTITE SETTLEMENT by BEFI

CHARTER OF DEMANDS FOR
11TH BIPARTITE SETTLEMENT
ON REVISION OF WAGES AND SERVICE CONDITIONS:

By

BANK EMPLOYEES FEDERATION OF INDIA(BEFI)

01.   BASIC PAY

· Revision of Basic Pay w.e.f. 1-11-2017 by merger of Special Allowance (7.75%of B.Pay) alongwith D.A. payable on Basic Pay and Special Allowance  at the average index for the quarter July-September 2017.

· Construction of revised pay scales by loading thereafter at 20% to clerical staff and 25% to subordinate staff.

·    Fitment on stage to stage basis

Stagnation Increments:

· Stagnation increments once in 2 years without any ceiling for both clerical and subordinate staff.
· Stagnation increment/s to be given in all cases of reversion   from officer to clerical cadre and clerical to substaff cadre


02.   SPECIAL PAY / PQP/ EQP / FPP/ OFFICIATING PAY

· Special Pay to be revised by merger of D.A and loading as in the case of Basic Pay.

· Further increase in Special Pay amount commensurate with the duties, responsibilities and risks involved in each post.

· Revision of PQP/EQP equivalent to the first stage increment in the pay scale.

·    Revision of FPP on the same lines of revision of Basic pay.

· Sanction of additional increments to Subordinate Staff for acquiring additional qualifications.

· Anomaly in denial of additional increments for directly passing post- graduation to be rectified.
      ·    Restrictions  in  payment  of  officiating  allowance  to  be  removed.      

     Formula for computation of officiating pay needs to be revised and       made  simple

03.   DEARNESS ALLOWANCE

·    D.A. to be paid based on CPI (2001=100) Index Series instead of
CPI (1960=100) Series.

·    D.A. to be revised on monthly variation in Index.

·    D.A. to be revised on rise and fall of every point in the Index.

04.   HOUSE RENT ALLOWANCE

·    Revision of HRA rates suitably on the revised Pay.

· Areas/population group to be re-classified and based on latest census figures.

·    Treating peripheral areas of metros at par for payment of HRA.

·    Introduction of Leased Accommodation facility to employees.

· Payment of HRA on Capital Cost / Rent Receipt basis upto 150% of normal entitlement.

·    Payment  of  HRA  to  employees  residing  in  Bank’s  Quarters  after
recovery of standard rent.

·    Special Economic Zone/EPZ/NEZ, etc. to be made at par with Project
Areas.

· Revision  in  HRA  rates  at  places  based  on  mid-census  population figures

·    Revision in HRA at project area centres.

Payment of HRA to employees of Project Area who does not reside in accommodation provided by Bank .

05.   TRANSPORT PAY

· Existing  Transport  Allowance  to  be  substantially  increased  and renamed as Transport Pay with payment of D.A. thereon.

06.   OTHER ALLOWANCES

·    Adequate increase in all existing Other Allowances.

·    Adequate increase in Halting Allowance/Reimbursement of Lodging
Expenses.

·    Introduction of Education Allowance

· Introduction  of  Closing  Allowance,  Mid-academic  Year  Allowance, Discomfort Allowance for staggered/odd-hour duties.

· Extension of allowances paid to Central/State Government Employees like Disturbed Area Allowance, Island Allowance, Agency/Tribal Allowance, Remote/Difficult Area Allowance, etc.

· Extension of North-East incentive as per 6th pay commission and as extended to RBI employees in North-east/Sikkim

·    Far-flung/difficult  areas  in  Uttarakhand  to  be  paid  Special  Area
Allowance at par with Leh/Ladakh, etc.

·    Hill   allowance   should   be   given   to   all   Districts   where   State
Governments are paying Hill Allowance.

07.   LEAVE RULES

Improvements in Leave Rules:

Casual Leave

·    Casual leave to be increased to 18 days.

·    Unavailed Casual Leave to be sanctioned without medical certificate.

 Privilege Leave

·    Accumulation of Privilege Leave should be increased to 300 days .

·    Encashment  of  Privilege  Leave  should  be  increased  to  300  days.
Where there is any shortfall under PL, Sick Leave to be allowed for encashment, if available.

· Employees should be permitted to avail Privilege Leave on 6 occasions in a calendar year.

· Privilege leave availed, irrespective of number of days, on grounds of sickness on production of medical certificate be allowed without being counted as a chance.

· Employees  should  be  permitted  to  avail  their  privilege  leave  on production of sickness certificate even in cases of illness of their family members residing with them.

· Privilege Leave encashment to be permitted in case of loss of job due to punishments/resignations.

· Notice period for availing privilege leave should be reduced from 30 days to 7 days

· Intervening holidays falling in between the leave period should not be counted as Privilege Leave.

Sick Leave

· One month sick leave for every completed year of service, without any ceiling.

· Submission of medical certificate be waived for availing sick leave for small ailments like fever, flu etc, for maximum period of 5 days. For this, number of occasions in a year may be stipulated.

· Employees should be permitted to avail their sick leave on production of sickness certificate even in cases of illness of their family members residing with them.

· Special sick leave over and above the normal eligibility for treatment of cancer, renal failure, major accidents etc. and in cases, where all leave has been exhausted.

· Intervening holidays falling in between the leave period should not be counted as Sick Leave.

Maternity Leave:

· A female employee may be granted maternity leave, for legal adoption of child, upto one year within the overall entitlement.

· Over and above the maternity leave, another 2 months to be given to  cover cases of hysterectomy, wherein the maternity leave is already exhausted.

· Maternity leave should be 2 years in service for women employees and for 1 year on one occasion for one child.

· Specific  gyneac  ailments  to  be  covered  under  maternity  leave including infertility treatment.

Child Care Leave:

· Child care leave on the lines as available for government employees be extended to bank employees also.

Sabbatical Leave:

· Sabbatical leave to all employees upto 2 years in the entire service with service benefits.



Study Leave

·    Introduction of study leave for employees to pursue higher studies.

Special Leave for Office-bearers

·    Special leave provided for office bearers should be enhanced.

· Provision of Duty Leave to Office-bearers for attending conciliation meetings/ labour courts /tribunals / labour training programmes, etc.

Leave Bank:

· Leave bank concept should be introduced with suitable modalities with sole object to help colleague employees in distress due to terminal diseases and having no leave to their credit.

Absence during Curfew, etc.:

· Absence due to curfew, riots, natural calamities/ prohibitory orders and other disturbances beyond the control of the employees to be treated as on duty.

Special leave for sports, etc.:

· Provision to be made for special leave for sports activities, trekking, mountaineering, etc. to those employees, who take part in approved competitions/programmes.

Special Leave with Pay when an employee dies after major ailments

· In case of death of the employee on account of prolonged sickness, the period of leave on loss of pay should be treated as special leave with pay.

08.   MEDICAL AID / HOSPITALISATION

ANNUAL MEDICAL AID:

· Substantial increase in annual medical aid amount due to escalation in cost of doctor fees, medicines, etc.

HEALTH CHECK-UP:

·    Reimbursement of health check-up expenses, at least to those above
45 years of age.

· Periodical  health  checkup  for  those  who  operate  computers  and reimbursement of expenses related to computer related diseases.

09.   LEAVE FARE CONCESSION

· Improvements to be made in LFC scheme on distance, class and mode of travel, etc
Dynamic Fair (Rajdhani / Satabdi or any Train) to be reimbursed.

· Husband and wife if they are working in different banks are allowed to avail their block of LFC separately. Same provision may be allowed to couple working in the same bank.

·    Road mileage charges to be increased substantially.

· Sight-seeing and local charges be also paid by the Bank within overall limit.
· To and fro Air Fare, beyond LFC entitlement, be paid to employees working   in   Tripura,   Meghalaya,   Manipur,   Nagaland,   Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram to Kolkata, Andaman-Nicobar Islands up to Kolkata
/ Chennai and in Lakshadweep up to Cochin. And in far flung areas of
Himalayan States to Chandigarh/Delhi.

·    LFC to visit abroad to be permitted .

·    LFC by any mode including own car to be permitted.

·    One more option for change of periodicity.

·    Package tour should be allowed within overall limit

·    Pony charges be increased.

·    Reimbursement of service charges for booking of tickets be allowed.

·    Partial encashment of LFC to be allowed

10.   OTHER SERVICE CONDITIONS

ON TRANSFER:

· Transportation  of  personal  effects  by  road  by  an  IBA  approved transport operator to be permitted in all cases.

·    To increase the stipulated weight upto 5000 kgs.

· Compensation  due  to  breakage  or  damage  to  be  increased  to Rs.2000/- on production of receipt and Rs.1500/- in case no receipt is produced.


11.   SUPERANNUATION BENEFITS

PROVIDENT FUND:

·    12% of ‘Pay’

Gratuity:

·    One month’s ‘Pay’ for each year of service rendered without any
restrictions.

·    Last drawn ‘Pay’ or 12 months average Pay, whichever is higher,
should be taken for computation of gratuity.

Pension related issues:

· NPS to be withdrawn and all new employees from 1-4-2010 covered by NPS to be covered by old scheme under Pension Regulation 1995.

·    Permanent  Part-time  employees  on  Consolidated  Wages  prior  to
1.5.2010 and made 1/3rd wage from 1-5-2010 should be covered by
Pension Regulations.


· Periodical  Pension  updation  along  with  wage  revision  of  service employees

· Basic pension of all existing pensioners to be updated at the same index level like Basic Pay of service employees viz July-Sept.2017 average.

·    DA on pension to be on monthly basis.


·    Extending 2nd option facility to employees who resigned between
1995 and 27.4.2010.

·    Qualifying service for full pension should be 20 years like in Govt/RBI;

·    Average of 10 months or last drawn ‘Pay’, ‘whichever is higher’ should
be considered for calculation of basic pension.

· Service  rendered  in  Defence,  if  not  counted  for  Defence  pension should be added in bank service for payment of pension.
Additional pension should be given after completion of 80 years of age.


Family Pension –


·    To be improved at par with RBI/ Government pension scheme.

Pension Regulation 1995 clause 39(3)(a)(1) to be amended as follows:

Twice the ordinary rate of family pension or 50% of the last pay drawn
whichever is less, from the date of death of an employee who died in harness for a period of 10 years without any upper age limit.

· Full pension as family pension for 10 years or upto the age of 70 years .

· Payment of Family Pension to unmarried/widowed daughters for life and if spouse and daughters are not available then to parents.
·    Incorporation  of  provision  in  Pension  Regulation  in  synergy  with
Clause 6 (b) 6 (c) and 6 (d) of settlement dated 10.4.2002.

·    Extension of Para-368(17) of Sastry Award to Pension Optees.

Encashment of leave:

·    Encashment  of  Privilege  Leave  should  be  increased  to  300  days.
Where there is any shortfall under PL, Sick Leave to be allowed for encashment, if available.

· Privilege Leave encashment to be permitted in case of loss of job due to punishments/resignations.

Cost on superannuation benefits should be outside and over and above the negotiated wage cost.

12.   BONUS / EX-GRATIA

· Bonus Act to be amended to remove the existing eligibility ceiling and Bonus to be paid to all employees.  Till the Act is amended, Ex-gratia in lieu of bonus should be paid to all employees

13.   COMPASSIONATE GROUND APPOINTMENTS

Compassionate ground appointments to the family member of the employees who die in harness  to be suitably revised without further delay .

14.   DEFINITION OF FAMILY AND DEPENDENTS

· ‘Family’  for  the  purpose  of  hospitalization/Leave  Fare  Concession should include parents/parents-in-law, children, unmarried/widowed/ divorced daughter/sister and physically/mentally challenged son/daughter,  brother/sister with disability of 25% or more,  who are ordinarily residing with /wholly dependent on the employee.

15.   DEPENDENTS’ INCOME CRITERIA

·    Amount for defining dependents to be increased from Rs.10000/- to
Rs.18000/- per month.

16.   LOANS & ADVANCES

·    Increase in quantum of interest free festival advance

· Introduction of Education Loan scheme to wards of employees for pursuing graduate/post-graduate education etc., under concessional rate of interest.

·    Housing loan in case of death of an employee should be written off.

Housing Loan to Staff member at nominal interest.

17. OUTSOURCED   /   CONTRACT/   TEMPORARY   /   CASUAL EMPLOYEES

· All types of outsourcing of regular permanent jobs to be withdrawn which are not covered by existing settlement provisions

· All   temporary/   contract/casual/outsourced   employees   should  be absorbed.

·    Equal pay for equal work for contract workers as per recent judgement of 
honourable Supreme Court.

18.   VOLUNTARY CESSATION FROM SERVICE:

·    This Chapter needs to be deleted in view of court judgements

· Those  who  were  removed  from  service  under  this  clause  to  be extended a chance to appeal.
· Those who have been treated under this provision to be covered under pension scheme and pension to be sanctioned to them.

19.   PART TIME EMPLOYEES

· All part time sweepers/safai karamcharies to be converted to full time sweepers.

·    Permanent  Part-time  employees  on  Consolidated  Wages  prior  to
1.5.2010 and made 1/3rd wage from 1-5-2010 should be covered by
Pension Regulations and not under NPS.

· Improvement   in   fitment   formula   of   part-time   employees   on enhancement to higher-scale/full-scale wages.

·    ML for legal adoption of child to be extended to part-time employees.

20.   RETIRED EMPLOYEES

· LFC reimbursement should be extended to retired bank employees.

·    Ex-gratia to pre 1986 retirees/widows to be revised.

· Same DA at 100% compensation for all pensioners and removal of slab system.

· Pension  updation  along  with  wage  revision  of  service  employees, revising the Basic Pension of all past retirees to the index point under
11th BPS, uniform rate of DA for all pensioners and removal of slab DA
system for past retirees,  improvement in family pension etc on the lines of the Government/RBI scheme.

· The  percentage of  allocation  towards  welfare schemes  of retirees should be uniformly defined.
· Medical Insurance premium of Retired employees should be borne by Bank.

21.   EXPENSES WHILE ON TRANSFERS

· Transportation charges on transfer should be reimbursed in full by any mode

·    Packing charges also be reimbursed.

· Hotel accommodation for 6 days with halting allowance on transfer of an employee.

· Travel expenses and Joining Time should be allowed to employees on their transferred to another station.

·    Road transport charges should be revised.

22.   OTHER DEMANDS

·    Streamlining and defined business/banking hours within working hours

·    Deletion of Para 536 of Sastri Award

·    BSRBs should be revived.

·    Personal drivers in the Banks should be regularised.

 Adequate recruitment of clerical and sub staff in all Banks.

23. PHYSICALLY    CHALLENGED    /    DIFFERENTLY    ABLED EMPLOYEES:

· Government   guidelines   on   concessions   to   such   employees   in transfers/rotations/postings, etc. to be strictly followed by all Banks.

·    Revision of conveyance allowance paid to these employees as per
Govt. Guidelines.

·    25 days CL for physically challenged employees.

· Full  pension  to  physically  challenged  employees  at  50%  of  Pay irrespective of service rendered.

24.   EX-SERVICEMEN EMPLOYEES:

· Uniform  and  consolidated  guidelines  to  be  issued  for  fixation  of emoluments of Ex Servicemen joining the Banks.

25.    STAFF WELFARE SCHEME:

·    The formula/quantum for allocation from profits for the Staff Welfare
Fund should be revised/increased

 26. REGIONAL RURAL BANK/ GRAMIN BANK:

Extension of benefits of Special Pays/Other Allowances to the Regional Rural  Bank Employees at per with Industry level agreement.

Implementation of Industry level Pension Agreement in the Regional Rural Banks without any deviations.

27.      GENERAL:

The Settlement should be effective from 1-11-2017

Unions reserve the right to alter, amend, add, delete or revise the demands in due course.