Industrial Relations at SBI Jamshedpur

A Group Project by: SouravSengupta |HartashikaKaur | PoorviSarin SaurabhTiwari |SoumitraAcharya

PM & IR 2010-12 XLRI School of Business & Human Resources Jamshedpur 831 001

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION. 2. TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR 3. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS OVERVIEW AT SBI 4. TRADE UNIONS AT SBI 4.1 SBI OFFICERS ASSOCIATION 4.2 SBI STAFF ASSOCIATION 5. RELATIONSHIP OF SBI WITH STATE AND FEDERATING BODIES 6. WORKERS PARTICIPATION IN MANAGEMENT 7. HISTORY OF STRIKES IN SBI 8. CONCLUDING REMARKS .. .6-11. .11-15. ..16-17. 17-18. ..18-19. ...20. .3. . 4. . .4-6.

ANNEXURES 1) Employee Data of Region V 2) Questionnaire administered to HR M anager 3) Questionnaire administered to SBI Staff 4) Office Bearers of SBIOA 5) SBIOA Byelaws 6) 9thBipartite Agreement 7) Strike Circular for July 1, 2010 8) Role of Indian Banks Association Excerpted from General Secretary s Report

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1. INTRODUCTION The organization taken up by our group is State Bank of India . Our study concentrates on the Industrial Relations of State Bank of India, Region V under the Ranchi Module (i.e., the Jamshedpur Region). The Industrial Relations Course has been our first insight into the mechanics of Trade Unions and employee, employer and state interactions. The basic reasons why a group of people collectivize to form a union m ay be varied ranging from demanding better working conditions, security, salary increase etc. We could grasp the fact that a group of workmen in the factory require a body to represent their grievances to the management and fight for improving their condition. However, the concept of White Collar Union intrigued us, especially in the banking sector as the workers in this sector are completely different from those working on the floor. The problems of floor workers do not apply much to the white collar staff. It was this sense of curiosity that compelled us to take up the Industrial Relations of State Bank of India wherein we could study the employee employer relationship in a bank and understand the issues involved in a bank and the functioning of these whit e collar unions. Apart from the Trade Union point of view, the fact that SBI is a Public Sector Undertaking also aroused our interest in the fact as to how a PSU deals with the Government for policy designing. The role of Indian Bank s Association becomes crucial in this regard. The above features of SBI differentiated it from an ordinary factory and we realized that a study of Industrial Relations of such an organization, though challenging, would add a lot of value to our understanding of Industrial Relat ions as a whole.

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2. TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR The first union of bank workers dates back to 1920, six years prior to the introduction of the Trade Union Act. To fight for the betterment of working conditions and higher compensation, the unions initially had to resort to frequent agitations leading to government intervention and appointment of tribunals to resolve the disputes. Two tribunal awards, viz. theShastry Award in 1958 and the Desai Award in 1962, were most instrumental in laying a strong foundation for the introduction of fair and equitable compensation for organized workers in the country. Thereafter, in the mid -1960s commenced the era of bipartite discussions, which is continuing till date. The first agreement, relating to service conditions of workmen, was signed in 1967. The All India State Bank of India Staff Federation was not party to this industry level agreement during this period but joined in later. Now the unions are legally entitled to sign a settlement with the Indian Banks Association (IBA) binding them as per the Industrial Disputes Act. The Ninth Bipartite Agreement, on salary revision and pensions, was signed between All India Bank Officers Confederation and the Indian Banks Association in April this year.

3. INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS OVERVIEW AT SBI The main purpose of this project is to develop an understanding of the Industrial Relations of State Bank of India, Region V under the Ranchi Module(i.e., Jamshedpur area). Industrial relations study of any organization requires us to concentrate on the inter-relationship of three elements Employees, Employers and the State. In case of SBI,

Region V, the employees are primarily represented by two unions. The c lerical and subordinate staff is represented by the State Bank of India Staff Association which has 528 members and the supervisory staff is represented by State Bank of India Officers Association which has 215 members(Refer Annexure 1). The unique feature of unioni sm in SBI, Region V is that ther e are the only two unions existing, one for the officers and the other for the staff, and there is no presence of any third union. These unions are recognized by the management and this is corroborated by the fact that there e xist many
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bipartite settlements between the management and the unions. The employees are reasonably satisfied with the work of these two bodies and in case of any major grievances that are not resolved internally, they approach the corresponding union and the matter is taken up at the meeting of the Central committee of the union with the management. On interacting with the employees, we realised that their grievances centred mainly around promotion, transfers and pension. On interacting with the HR Manager of Region V, Mr. Rajiv Ranjan, we found that the personnel department tries its level best to sort out matters relating to transfer and promotions according to the policies of the bank. However, he said that if an employee i s still not satisfied with the personnel department s actions, they go to the respective union and the matter is considered and taken up at the appropriate level at the central committee meetings(Refer Annexure 2). The fact that there exists only one union at the staff level and one at supervisor s level was hard to believe initially. Being sceptical at first about the authenticity of the claim that SBISA and SBIOA were the only two unions, we tried to question different employees in different methods, for example, directly asking employ ees of their preferred union, making them fill a questionnaire and asking them their grievance resolution mechanism. From all efforts, the only fact that came out was that SBISA is the only Trade union present for staff and SBIOA for officers in region V . Not being satisfied with this information, we approached local newspapers and met with Mr Satyendra Kumar, senior staff reporter of Hindustan, who has been covering the banking sector for almost two decades in Jamshedpur, particularly the conferences of the PSU bank staff unions like SBI, PNB, Canara Bank and he too confirmed that 100% of the employees were either part of SBISA or SBIOA. The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), which is politically inclined towards the left, and has significant clout in most PSU banks, does not enjoy much influence in SBI. Unions in SBI, like th e organization itself, function somewhat independently of the other PSU bank unions. The group also met with the Assist. General Secretary of AIBEA (and Special Assistant in Punjab National Bank, Jamshedpur)Mr.Bali Kumar, and was clearly told that they do not have any presence whatsoever in SBI.
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We gathered information regarding SBISA by meeting directly with Mr.Debashish Bhattacharya and Mr.RintuRajak. We also questioned the staff about their grievances and how satisfied were they with the present work of SBISA. Similarly, for SBIOA, we met Mr. Roy and could gather an insight into the working of SBIOA. We also questioned the supervisory staff about their views on the existing situation and although they did not have any issues against the union as such, they expressed dissatisfaction with the promotion policies of the bank (as mentioned in questionnaire in Annexure 3). On being probed on this, they elaborated the fact that the promotion should be more performance based in comparison to being dependent on just one exam. The transfer issues were more of an individual problem and handled well by the unions. So the unions in the bank share a cordial relation ship with the bank and the employees seem to have accepted the fact that there is no scope for any other union to raise its head, as spoken by one employee. The strikes in the past have mostly been directed towards the pension increase and salary hikes. Many strikes, once planned, are nipped in the bud as management calls the union for talks and usually the matter is resolved at that level itself. There have been instances of mediation by the Assistant Labour Commissioner earlier this year but even in that case both the parties talked out the differences and came out with a joint decision, preventing a strike.

4. TRADE UNIONS AT SBI 4.1 State Bank of India Officers Association SBIOA was formed with the express purpose of giving officers the freedom of association and expression under the rule of law. The officers (viz the managers and supervisors) felt sandwiched between the powerful top management and their unruly subordinates. To mitigate this feeling of alienation and to empower themselves as a grou p, several associations of head cashiers, staff assistants and staff officers united to form the SBI Supervising Staff Association (Madras Circle) in the early sixties. Founded by K.
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Santhanakrishnan, the association was registered under the Trade Unions Act, 1926, on 14 August 1965. The immediate reaction of the management to the officers collective was hostile and contemptuous making body. Within the next four months, similar associations were formed in three circles viz. Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta. These four circles federated to form the All India State Bank Supervising Staff Federation, which is presently named as All India State Bank Officers Federation, in 1965. After this consolidation at the apex level, the federation and the association slowly started exerting pressure on the management, first for recognition as the sole bargaining agent and for establishing bilateral relationships. This was particularly an uphill task as supervisory and managerial employees are specifically excluded from the industrial law by the government. The officers tried varied tactics to put pressure on the management such as work to rule and mass casual leave. The management responded in kind by unleashing a spate of transfers, suspension and charge sheets. All this discontent culminated in a historic all-India 17-day strike in June 1969 with officers demanding right of joint determination of salary structure and better service conditions. Although the strike was unsuccessful in legal conferment of the demands, the show of strength did help to bring about some mutual understanding with the management: the federation was accorded recognition as sole bargaining agent for all SBI officers, grievance and disciplinary procedures were formulated, improvement in working hours, fair promotion policy, acceptance of officers representation in Central Board of Directors etc. After Patna was established as a local head office in 1972, the SBIOA (Patna circle) registered as an autonomous body with the Registrar of trade unions, Government of Bihar, in 1975 regd. no. 1872 of 1975. The union strength has increased from 252 at the the association was dismissed as a mere petition

time of inception to over 5000 today. Therefore, from this brief history we find that unionization was a d esperate response to take matters into their own hand and to present a united front in the face of adversity.

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Although the times of oppression are long past, the SBIOA still finds favour with the officers due to its history of welfare and continuing endeav ours.

Structure of SBIOA: The Patna circle has 5 modules (Ranchi, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Purnea, Patna), each of which elects an 11 -member zonal committee comprising a president, vice president, assistant general secretary, regional secretary, secretary

finance and six executive members. Further, each district has a 9-member committee, which reports to the zonal committee. For example: the distr ict committee of East Singhbhum will report to the Ranchi zonal committee. Further details of the SBIOA structure may be referred from Annexure 4.

Admission: SBI has the largest number of officers in the banking sector

all India

strength is over 40,000 while the number in Region V is around 300. In Jamshedpur, SBIOA has 100% representation. Joseph Aind, member of the district committee, does allow for the possibility that a minute fraction of employees are not part of the union due to differences in opinion but they prefer to maintain their silence . The prevailing thought is that there is no harm in being attached with the union, only benefits. It is easier to go with the flow. Grade 1 to Grade 5 officers (junior managers till rank of asst. general managers) can be part of the association. The SBIOA does not allow for dual membership i.e. members cannot be part of another trade union (Refer Annexure 5: para 3a). A representative of the union approaches new recruits directly to become members. After initiation, the member is given a copy of the bye laws of the association, booklets on service conditions and other publications of association. He also becomes eligible for financial assistance at the time of need from SBIOA. The association also maintains a register of all its members containing their names and particulars of their place of work, residence etc., which is open to inspection by any member. The check-off method is used for realisation of the monthly subscription (Rs 100) which is taken directly from the salary account.

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From our enquiries, it is apparent that members do not have a major part to play in the functioning or activities of the SBIOA. The central committee issues circulars periodically to keep the members aware of their activities. Election of OfficeBearers: The election to form the 15-member central committee is held every three years, usually in May/June, through secret ballot. The committee, comprising a president, vice president,general secretary, two deputy general secretaries, two

organizing secretaries, secretary finance and seven executive members, takes all decisions relating to SBIOA.Such a decentralised structure allows for wider span of control and elected officials to know better the needs an d desires of their constituents. Candidates canvass through e-mails, personal visits and the process is akin to the voting process we go through to elect representatives to the state. The outgoing general secretary has to forward the electoral rolls (divid ed according to module) to the Election Committee a month before nominations. Separate ballot papers in two different colours are printed for election to Central and Zonal Committees. Each member is required to vote for total number of strength of the resp ective Central/Zonal committees. The Election Committee also nominates 5 independent observers for the scrutiny of ballot papers. Results of the election are notified by way of circular within 24 hours from the time of counting. The operation of the iron law of oligarchy is discernable through two observations: Many a time officebearers of SBIOA prefer not to take promotions even to grade 2 status. Chief Manager Debashish Roy, who has been with the SBI for 13 years, explains: As you move up the ladder, you become more and more part of the management. This creates a conflict of interest and the leaders wish to avoid this. There is also general apathy among workers from which it is apparent that members do not have a major part to play in the functioning or activities of the SBIOA. The central committee issues circulars periodically to keep the members aware of their activities. The white collar workers are quite passive in nature, not at all bothered by jingoistic union activities, added Mr Roy.

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Features of the 9thBipartite Settlement - SBIOA:

The negotiations between the Bank Officers in the Banking Industry by the All India Bank Officer s Confederation and the Indian Bank s association as well as between the Govt. and the UFBU commenced in the year 2007. The negotiations involved a series of meetings between the 4 officer s organizations and the Indian Bank s Association and between the Govt. and the UFBU since the issue of the 2 nd option was kept high on the agenda of the confederation. After nearly three years of negotiations, on 27 th April 2010, the 9th bipartite settlement was inked on behalf of the entire Bank Officers. The Charter demands was also subsequently reinforced by a supplementary Charter taking cue from the changes that had taken place in respect of the Civil servants on the implementation of the 6 th Pay commission. The negotiations were centered on the issue of 2 nd option and the viability of the fund thereafter sharing the burden on Pension as per actuarial report obtained in this connection.

The salient Features of the bipartite settlement is as follows: 1. The pay increment resulted was 17.54 % which was highest in terms of the percentage of increase. 2. They were successful in getting the 2nd option on pension which was pending for a long time. 3. Introduction of 2 additional stagnation increments for scale and III 4. Ensuring of the better starting pay without sacrificing the internal relativity and incremental pattern 5. Improvement in the LFC by providing eligibility for JMGSI, Middle management Grade II and III to travel by air 6. Settlement of halting Allowance with substantial improvements 7. Improvements in Medical allowance to considerable extent 8. Improvement in Project Area allowance and Special area allowance etc.

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A booklet containing Joint notes on salary revision and pension with details of charts showing DA, HRA etc. payable was released by the Union and was made available to every employee/member. (For details refer Annexure 6)

Analysis:This acts as yet another example of the fact that there exists a very harmonious relationship that exists between the management and the Union and also reestablishes the image of SBIOA being a mild and non-militant and yet effective union in itself. It pushes forth that the management and Union carry the relationship forward and coming to a common solution to a problem is the way out in case of conflicts and thus unlike usual industrial conflicts, the conflict management followed here can be bipartite , which is a very unique and appreciable feature of SBIOA.

Strike planned on 1st July

Deferred

A strike against Unilateralism had been planned on 1 July. However, the management sent the strike notice to Central Labour Commissioner. The Assistant Labour Commissioner, on reading the case, urged the bank to start talks with the Union. The strike was deferred under these circumstances. On the outset, this may look like a positive happening. However, delving deep into the mechanism, we find the union is extremely victorious with just the fact that the bank representatives agreed to talk. This talks volumes about the attitude of the bank towards the union. The bank looks at SBIOA as a necessary evil and even though being the single union representing the officers, SBIOA seems to lack the movement or confiden ce of a robust union clear about achieving its objectives. (Refer Annexure 7)

4.2 State Bank of India Staff Association Trade Union movement in SBI started as early as 1920 when the bank was known as the IMPERIAL BANK OF INDIA. Back then, however, the uni on was not recognized by the bank management. It was only in 1944 that the union registered itself under the TU Act 1926
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under the name of Imperial Bank Staff Association (Registration no. : 34). The Imperial Bank was rechristened as State Bank of India in the year 1955, when the SBI Act was passed by the Parliament. Consequently, the name of the association was changed to SBI Staff Association (SBISA). The State Bank of India Staff Association is the union of employees of state bank of india in the staff category. It was registered under the Trade union act in 19 and has its registered office and Headquarters at Kolkata. SBI is operationally divided all over India into 14 circles 7 of these circles have their independent unions and there is a separate union by the name of SBISA which caters to the remaining seven. All these unions are affiliated at the national level to the All India State Bank of India Staff Federation (AISBISF). SBI Karnataka Circle Hyderabad Circle Ahmadabad Circle Mumbai Circle Bhopal Circle Kerala Circle Madras Circle Delhi Circle Bhubaneswar Circle Chandigarh Circle Bengal Circle Lucknow Circle Guwahati Circle Patna Circle All India SBI Staff Federation (AISBISF) SBISU Karnataka Circle SBISU Hyderabad Circle SBISU Ahmadabad Circle SBISU Mumbai Circle SBISU Bhopal Circle SBISU Kerala Circle SBISU Madras Circle SBISA

The Circles are further fragmented into modules. The Patna Circle, is thus, subdivided into the following modules:
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1. Patna Module 2. Muzaffarpur Module 3. Purnia Module 4. Ranchi Module 5. Bhagalpur Module The Modules are further divide into regions. The Patna Module is thus divided into 5 regions, namely 1. Region I 2. Region II 3. Region III 4. Region IV 5. Region V(our region of enquiry) The union operating for the employees working in the branches and cells within Region V constitutes our subject of study. The Region V covers the following areas namely; A) Jamshedpur East District B) Jamshedpur West District C) Sarekela-Khersawan District The Region V includes 53 branches and 8 cells. The cells are as follows: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 RBO RACPC CAC CCPC SMECC SARC Rural RACPC MPST Regional Business Office Rental Assets Centralised Processing Cell Currency Administration Cell Centralised Clearing Processing Cell Small and Medium Enterprises Coordination Cell Stress Assets Recovery Cell Rural Rental Assets Centralised Processing Cell Marketing and Product Sales Team

There are presently 528 members in the Region V of SBISA.

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Current Office Bearers of SBISA in Region V: The union in region V is currently headed by Mr.Subhashish Bhattacharya who is the Regional Secretary and Mr.RintuRajak who is the Regional Secretary of Region V. They directly report to Mr Jai Nandan Singh (General Secretary), Mr.Durga Ram (President) and Mr. D.N. Pandey(V ice President).

Membership: The membership of SBISA is offered to an employee of SBI if he/she fulfils the following conditions: 1) He/ She should be a permanent employee of the State Bank of India 2) He/She should at least be 18 years of age. 3) He/She should be either a Clerical employee, Watch ward, Sweeper or should belong to any other staff category. The current number of such employees is 528 in Region V. The membership fee for SBISA is Rs 20 for Subordinate staff category and Rs 40 for clerical staff category per month.The members of the union are eligible to many benefits such as the co-operative loan and any other financial assistance of the association. The subscription is collected by the system of check-off and the permission is given by the employee by filling up the registration form in the beginning. (For further details about the structure and functioning of SBISA, refer the link www.sbisa.org/constitution.php) Features of SBISA: 1) White Collar Union: SBISA is a white collar union in the sense that he clerical staff is a part of this union. The workers here do not have to work in any manufacturing processes and the problem of poor working conditions does not apply much to the members of this union. However, there seems to be a disadvantage of this fact. As a Bank employee, they do not consider themse lves to be at the receiving end; employees do not seem interested in standing up against the prevailing system. A sense of complacency seems to surround the whole unionization thought process at this level.

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2) Solidarity with the Staff: On interacting with the representatives of the union, we found them abreast with the employee issues such as transfers and promoti ons. They seemed to have a strict mechanism in place for such grievances. For example, only genuine problems relating to health,etc were taken up by union. Moreover, the staff too was aware of the limitations of the union and conceded that most of these things were first taken u[ with the personnel department. The only case where the group felt that union took a strong stand against the management was in cases where there had occurred a misappropriation of funds by an employee and he had been dismissed from duty. In case the union felt that the fault did not lie completely with the employee, they would take a stand against the management. A similar case occurred with an employee known as Satyapal Singh.

3) Recognized Union: The most unique feature of SBISA is the fact that it is
recognized by the management. The union represents all the staff of SBI in Region V and the management bargains with this union. In a country where union recognition is not forcible by law, this fea ture is of interest because this single aspect gives SBISA the power to be the single union and the employees do not feel a pressing need for another representative body to compete with SBISA.

5. RELATIONSHIP OF SBI WITH THE GOVERNMENT AND FEDERATING BODIES

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The Indian Banks Association Indian Banks' Association (IBA), formed on 26 September, 1946 is a representative body of management of banking and financial institutions in India. With an initial membership representing 22 banks in India in 1946, IBA currently represents 150 banking com panies operating in India. IBA was formed for development, coordination and strengthening of Indian banking, and assist the member banks in various ways including implementation of new systems and adoption of standards among the members. It effectively serves as an employers association for the banking sector, and engages in collective bargaining with the trade unions and federations of employees in the sector. It deliberates mainly on wages, pensions and other employee issues . (Refer Annexure ????????????????) Indian Banks' Association is managed by a managing committee, the incumbent chairman of which is Mr O P Bhatt of the SBI.The Chairman of SBI is heading the IBA after four years. It was last headed in the year 2005 -06 by A K Purwar who was then the Chairperson of SBI. The relationship of both the organizations has been very significant right from the inception of IBA.The relationship came under the scanner when in 2009 The Indian Banks Association (IBA) and United Federation of Banking Unions (UFBU) representing nine bank employee associations agreed to the wage hike and pension benefits. However, All-India State Bank Officers Federation (AISBOF) rejected the proposed 17.5 percent wage hike and pension benefits and demanded a separate wage revision for them and backed out of the proposition.The management of the SBI and IBA have hence had intangible relationships with each other in the past; but up recently with Mr. Bhatt coming into the picture the ongoing milieu seems to be very organized and fruitful. The SBISA comes under the umbrella body of All India State Bank of India Staff Federation. They negotiate with Indian Bank s Association. IBA is the representative body of management of banking in India operating in India - an association of Indian banks and financial institutions. At industry level, it is affiliated to the National Confederation of Bank Employees through A.I.S.B.I.S.F at industry level.

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All India State Bank Officers Federation (Regd. No. 727/MDS under TU Act) The All India State Bank Officers Federation (AISBOF) represents over 80,000 officers of the State Bank of India and its six associate banks. Membership of the federation is extended to officers from grade JMG -I to SMG-V(AGM). The federation came into existence in 1965 and consists of 14 circle associations and ABOA (?) representing 5 associate banks. It is in turn affiliated to the All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) which is also an independent trade union. The AISBOF is recognized as the sole representative body of the officers in SBI, and participates in bipartite and tripartite forums established in the bank for negotiations, consultation, customer service, community service, banking, welfare schemes etc.

The stated aim of the federation is to achieve, through con structive cooperation with the management and the government, maximum efficiency in banking operations, balanced spread of banking to different regions, high quality customer service, development of human resources, modernization of systems and procedures, prevention of wasteful expenditure and frauds, and to generate able and harmonious industrial relations. Apart from sending out circulars and other communications to grassroots level membership providing them with day to day information on the activities of the organization, the federation also publishes a monthly journal called Officers Cause. The federation was also instrumental in organizing the first strike of managerial employees in the world in 1969, demanding the right of joint determination of sa lary structure and conditions of service of the officers.

6. WORKERS PARTICIPATION IN MANAGEMENT In accordance with Article 43A (Directive Principles of State Policy) of the Indian Constitution, the SBI has taken several measures to involve staff in the management process. The first step is the inclusion of a Worker Director at the apex level
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representative each is selected from SBIOA and SBISA to be part of the 13 -member board of directors. There also exists a welfare committee at the Bistupur branch, which is a mix of staff and officers. It takes cares of smooth running of canteen, betterment of conditions of work and is only advisory in nature.

7. HISTORY OF STRIKES IN SBI SBI, though has a very cordial workforce, there are certain issues that cause discord amongst the employees resulting in the possibility of a strike. Generally the management and unions prefer to talk out the differences but there have been many cases in which a strike was imminent. One such strike, i.e., the 2006 SBI Strike has been analysed as follows: Reasons:The All India State Bank of India Staff Federation and the All India State Bank of India's Officer' Federation jointly went for an indefinite country -wide bank strike from April 3, 2006. The strike called demanding revision of pension to 50 per cent of last drawn basic salary without any ceiling, and suitable revision of family revision. Since 1992 -93, there had been two wage revisions but the retired employees were significantly loosing as there was no revision in pension rates. According to the last revision done in 1992 -93, a retired SBI employee, with last drawn basic pay uptoRs8,500, was entitled to pension of 50 per cent of basic pay subject to a maximum of Rs 4,250. For those with last basic pay of above Rs 8,500, the pension was set at 40 per cent of basic pay subject to a minimum of Rs 4,250. The retired employees were though entitled to get dearness allowance. The maximum family pension stands at Rs 1,000 with a minimum of Rs 300. As against other nationalized banks, SBI employees enjoy the benefit of both the contributory provident fund and the pension fund in addition to their gratuity. Other banks offer either the provident fund or the pension benefit in addition to gratuity. Strike called off after the Settlement on Pension:The indefinite strike by employees of SBI was finally called off after seven-days. Government had decided to move in to end the
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deadlock between the management and striking employees' union leaders of the State Bank of India after talks between the two failed. The talks were held in Delhi Ministry of finance Officials. Under the settlement, the fresh `cut-off' of basic pay for determining pension has been increased to Rs 21,040 from Rs 8,500. All employees earning a basic pay of Rs 21,040 would get pension at 50 per cent of that amount, while those earning above that level would get 40 per cent for the incremental amount above Rs 21,040 "subject to a minimum of 50 per cent of Rs 21,040." Mr. Chidambaram, Finance Minister described the settlement as very satisfactory and mentioned that "In our scheme of things, SBI occupies pride of place. It has the potential to become a truly global bank," he said. The strike had badly affected hundreds of thousands of middle-class salaried employees, corporates and markets. According to industry officials, the country's financial system had taken a hit of as much as Rs.20 billion (nearly $450 million) a day as a result of the strike by the workers of the public sector banking giant. Meanwhile, governments of many states have asked the Reserve Bank of India to move their bank accounts out of SBI to banks of their choices. Analysis:SBI, as we all know, is the largest bank in India and is instrumental in its role it plays in the life and existence a lot man y businessman and businesses that run across the country. And since both the management as well as the union, understand the gravity of the matter and appreciate the role played by SBI in the economy of the country, the Union does not in general takes severe steps like going for a strike, often. Also, the management is also very much aware of this fact and thus ensures a very harmonious and cooperative relationship with the union.But the issue of monetary benefits to be extended to the retired executives of SBI (and ensure that they also reap the fruits of any advantage that the existing members of SBI are enjoying resulting from their efforts), kept on surfacing time and again. And as it is said the present unresolved grievances carry the roots of future industrial problems , the issue reared its ugly head out irrepressibly in the year 2006. The Union, in an uncharacteristic way of it, displayed severe commitment this time and ensured that unlike every time, the matter does not get settlement by a mere cajo ling mutual

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discussion between the Union and the management and saw to it that the demands are met its desired destination. The Strike which continued for 8 nights, exhibited the Unions strength and the extent of discord that brewed over time between the Union and management over time, and hence called for a govt. intervention finally. The strike was one of the major strikes in the past many years and helped re-instil the faith of the employees and the members back in the Union and helped the Union to come out the current image it was developing of being too timid and merely threatening in nature.

8. CONCLUDING REMARKS: The above study was our first foray into the Industrial relations concept and through this project, we could relate the classroom learning to the real world. For example, the concepts of unionization, collective bargaining, union recognition became reality once we stepped outside and got a glimpse of how the real world works. The biggest learning was that we could not take anything at its face value. In the initial days, our interactions with the union leaders painted a very rosy picture of the Industrial relations at SBI and of the union-management relationship. But on talking to the employees, we found that this was not a very positive sign as the employees did not seem happy about the situation. They had just accepted the fact that no other union could exist in competition to SBIOA or SBISA which we felt was harmful to the whole concept of unions and employee representation. However, the relations were cordial to an extent and there seemed to be no major points of discontent. The usual issues were pensions and wages do exist though. The other learning that we could garner from this study was an overview of the banking sector and how SBI has changed its perception in the masses over the years to a more Consumer friendly bank, in competition to the private banks. Concluding the study, we feel that now we have a better understanding of Industrial Relations and the approach that needs to be followed in dealing with an IR issue of an organization. The employees are the key and getting them to communicate their views would actually lead us to the pulse of the matter.
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