Wage settlement issue: RBI employees to go for agitations; mass casual leave on November 30

Reserve Bank of India

The United Forum of Reserve Bank officers and employees has threatened to go for mass agitation seeking urgent resolution of wage settlement issue. The agitation plans include mass casual leave for all staff coming under current wage settlements on November 30, 2021.

On October 21, Moneycontrol first reported about RBI employees' plan to go for agitations.

"Our patience is wearing thin, you will please appreciate. Our members are very restive and are in highly agitated mood," said the United Forum office bearers in a letter to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on November 12.

"We, as their accredited representatives, are therefore, constrained to call upon our members to mobilize themselves and express their grievances appropriately, in organized and disciplined manner, including cessation of work through Mass Casual Leave, which we sincerely tried to avoid but an inordinate delay on Bank’s part on such a very sensitive matter compels us," the letter said.

Moneycontrol has reviewed the letter.

RBI staff wages are decided through a bipartite settlement once in five years through negotiations between management and employee unions. The current round of wage revision is pending since November 2017. The RBI has different unions for lower-level employees (mainly class 3 and 4 employees) and officers.

The wage settlement applies to all central bank staff although officers typically get slightly higher revision compared with lower-level employees. The Indian central bank has around 12,500-13,000 employees.

Negotiations fail

According to the union, the representatives of AIRBEA (All India Reserve Bank Employees Association) were asked to come to Mumbai for a physical meeting with RBI’s negotiating team on September 22, 2021 in presence of Executive Director in-charge of Administration.

Accordingly, AIRBEA invited its leaders from various centres to Mumbai. However, on September 24, 2021, though the AIRBEA representatives waited for the whole day for RBI's draft settlement which did not come, the Union officials said. “In the evening we were informed by the HRMD (Human Resource Management Department) officials that because of some constraints, Bank was not enabled to give us the draft and we were asked to come on Monday, the 27th September, 2021,” the officials said, adding due to this, about twenty-five AIRBEA representatives had to prolong their stay in Mumbai in anticipation of the draft.

But on September 27, “after an agonizing wait for the whole day, we were told in the evening that Bank was not able to give us the draft, neither was HRMD in a position to state when that could be given, and suggested that instead of waiting in Mumbai we could go back to respective centres,” the union officials said.

“Such a situation never arose in the history of bipartite settlement in the Bank from 1970 onwards. We are extremely agitated” says the letter.