AIRBEA decides to join December 14 All India Industrial strike

Kolkata, Dec 05 (UNI) Reserve Bank of India(RBI) employees have decided to join the proposed All India Industrial strike on December 14, called by the 56 Left Trade Unions against the UPA Government's economic policy.

But the decision had infuriated the RBI management so much that it issued a letter on November 21, asking the All India Reserve Bank Employees Association(AIRBEA) not to participate in the strike.

Alleging that the RBI management was least concerned towards genuine demands of its employees, AIRBEA general secretary Samir Ghosh here today said for more than a decade the Bank had been downsizing the institution and outsourcing its core functions and other operational activities besides drastically curtailing the workforce.

During the last decade the strength of the staff had come down from more than 33,000 in 1995 to around 20,000 now, he said adding the currency management, Banking activities and even the overall financial supervision were in a shambles.

The decision of the Bank to withdraw from public debt management will throw the states into an uncertain future, the AIRBEA secretary said and alleged that the attempt to outsource the most efficent cheque clearing operation from RBI and other public sector Banks to a new private company would lead to "chaos" in the very sensitive area of the economy.

As these moves were against the interest of the nation and the economy, the AIRBEA had called for a sustained campaign to oppose such anti-national policies of the Bank management. " It cannot be unilaterally changed at the whims of RBI hierarchy. " Meanwhile, AITUC, AIBEA, BEFI and several other trade unions had urged the RBI management to withdraw its alleged anti-employees stance and ensure further growth of the Central Bank.

UNI ABA SJC RN1838