UNITED FORUM OF BANK UNIONS
(AIBEA-AIBOC-NCBE-AIBOA-BEFI-INBEF-INBOC-NOBW-NOBO)
UFBU CIRCULAR NO. 2011/7 1ST July, 2011
TO ALL UNIONS AND MEMBERS:
UFBU MEETING AT CHENNAI
A meeting of the UFBU was held yesterday in Chennai. Com. E. Arunachalam ( AIBEA) presided over the meeting. All the constituents were present.
1 ) The meeting expressed its serious concern over the continued and alarming increase in prices of all essential commodities and daily necessities and regretted that the Government is not taking any effective steps to contain inflation and priceline. The meeting was further concerned to observe that over and above the recent hike in petrol prices by Rs. 5 per litre, Government has struck another cruel blow at the people by increasing the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas.
The increase in the price of diesel by Rs. 3 per litre has come at a time when the people are already suffering from the unabated price spiral and the inflation rate is nearing 10 per cent. This hike in diesel price will raise the cost of transportation and will have all-round impact on prices of all items. The increase in the price of kerosene by Rs. 2 per litre will be an added burden on the poor. The Rs. 50 increase per gas cylinder will also add very serious burden on the common people including even the middle class salaried employees like the bank staff. The meeting recorded its strong protest against these decisions of the Government and demanded the roll-back of price hike.
2 ) Taking note of the call given by the Joint Council of Action (JCA) of Postal Employees for indefinite strike will be w.e.f 5th July, 2011 against the Government’s efforts to (a) Closure/merger of about 9797 post offices in the urban area (b) Reduce the number of Speed Post Centres from 315 to 89 (c) Reduce the RMS sorting centres from 412 to 84 (d) To redeploy the postman staff in the newly created "Delivery hubs" etc., the meeting decided to extend all support to and solidarity with their struggle and called upon bank employees/officers to hold demonstrations during their agitation.
3 ) On a review of the preparatory programmes undertaken so far, the meeting exhorted all the Unions to further widen the campaign and intensify the efforts to ensure full moblisation in our struggle.
Since the Parliament session has been delayed and commences from 1st August, 2011, the meeting, after proper deliberations, decided to change the date of the strike and postponed the strike to 5th August, 2011.
While all the preparatory campaign meetings, seminars and conventions may continue uninterrupted, the demonstrations/ rallies, etc. planed for the 4th and 7th July may be deferred as further preparatory progrmmes are being given.
Further, upon representations from our Unions in RRBs, Co-operative Banks and Daily Deposit Collectors to include their demands to enable them to wholeheartedly participate in the programmes/ Strike action, it was decided to accede to their request.
4 ) Decision on the request application of the newly formed National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) to join the UFBU was deferred to the next UFBU meeting.
5 ) With regard to the suggestion to have proper and formal structure, rules and codes to run the UBFU more effectively, it was decided that the issue may be discussed exclusively in a future meeting so that all the constituent unions may formulate their viewpoints on these matters before finalizing the same.
The meeting concluded with a firm resolve to carry forward the current struggle and strike call successfully and prepare the membership for further intensified and prolonged agitations and more strike actions as may be warranted.
With greetings,
Yours Comradely,
C.H.VENKATACHALAM
CONVENOR