Date:27/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/27/stories/2008112751960300.htm

Kerala - Kozhikode

Union lays claim to saving banks

Staff Reporter

Seeks clarification from Union Finance Minister
Opposes bank amalgamation move

KOZHIKODE: The Syndicate Bank Staff Union (SBSU, affiliated to the BEFI) wants Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaran to clarify how India can manage to overcome the disastrous impact of the global economic crisis.

At a delegates meeting held here on Tuesday in connection with the two-day Ninth All-India Syndicate Bank Officers Union Conference in Kozhikode, BEFI president P. Sadasivan Pillai claimed that it was the concerted intervention of bank unions and Left organisations that saved the banking sector.

He alleged that the Prime Minister and Finance Minister were inclined to take steps that would have taken the country to the brink of a huge financial crisis. It was up to the bank unions now to come out clearly with the details that saved the banking industry and the economy.

SBSU president Aroop Tarafdhar presided.

The meeting urged the authorities not to go ahead with the bank amalgamation move which it termed anti-national and anti-people. The SBSU wanted adequate staff appointed in the banking sector. The salary revision of banks must be given priority and pension scheme introduced in all banks, it added.