SAINTGITS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

Project Phase II

Industrial Relations and Labour Laws

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Ms. Reenu mol A Joanne Mary George
Teaching Research Associate Batch A (2019-2021)
Saintgits Institute of Management

Date of Submission: 17th November 2020

Industrial Relations

Industrial relations may be defined as the relations and interactions in the industry
particularly between the labour and management as a result of their composite attitudes and
approaches in regard to the management of the affairs of the industry, for the betterment of not
only the management and the workers but also of the industry and the economy as a whole. The
term industrial relations explain the relationship between employees and management which stem
directly or indirectly from union-employer relationship.

Scope of Industrial Relations

The scope of industrial relations includes:

a) Relationship among employees, between employees and their superiors or managers.
b) Collective relations between trade unions and management. It is called union-management
relations.
c) Collective relations among trade unions, employers’ associations and government.

Thus, the scope of industrial relations seems to be very wide. It includes the establishment and
maintenance of good personnel relations in the industry, ensuring manpower development,
establishing a closer contact between persons connected with the industry and that between the
management and the workers, creating a sense of belonging in the minds of management, creating
a mutual affection, responsibility and regard for each other, stimulating production as well as
industrial and economic development, establishing a good industrial climate and peace and
ultimately maximizing social welfare.

Objectives of Industrial Relations

Objectives of Industrial Relations identifies the following objectives of industrial relations:

I. To safeguard the interest of labour and management by securing the highest level of mutual
understanding and goodwill among all those sections in the industry which participate in
the process of production.
II. To avoid industrial conflict or strife and develop harmonious relations, which are an
essential factor in the productivity of workers and the industrial progress of a society.
III. To raise productivity to a higher level in an era of full employment by lessening the
tendency to high turnover and absenteeism.
IV. To establish and promote the growth of an industrial democracy based on labour
partnership in the sharing of profits and of managerial decisions.
V. To eliminate or minimize the number of strikes, lockouts and work-to-rule by providing
reasonable wages, improved living and working conditions, and fringe benefits.
Importance of Industrial Relations in the Banking Industry

The Importance of Industrial Relations in the Banking Industry; Healthy industrial relations in the
banking industry is said to be important for the following reasons;

I. Uninterrupted work: The most important benefit of industrial relations is that it ensures
continuity of work. This means continuous employment for all from managers to workers.
Also, resources are fully utilized, resulting in the maximum possible production and
uninterrupted flow of income for all.

II. Reduction in industrial disputes: Good industrial relation reduces industrial disputes.
Disputes are the reflections of the failure to secure adequate satisfaction or expression
which are fully cured by good industrial relations. Strikes, lockouts, work-to-rule and
grievances are some of the reflections of industrial disharmony which do not occur in an
atmosphere of industrial peace.

III. Mental revolution: The main objective of industrial relations is a complete mental
revolution of workers and employees. The industrial peace lies ultimately in a transformed
outlook on the part of both. It is the business of leadership in the ranks of workers,
employees and government to work out a new relationship in consonance with a spirit of
true democracy. Both should think themselves as partners of the industry and the role of
workers in such a partnership should be recognized. On the other hand, workers must
recognize employer’s authority. It will naturally have impact on production because they
recognize the interest of each other.

IV. Reduced wastage: Wastage of man, material and machines are reduced to the minimum
when there is harmony within any given industrial system. This again will have a positive
important on production and the general wellbeing of the organization in particular and the
society in general.

Types of collective bargaining in India

In India, collective bargaining has been defined by the Supreme Court as “the technique
by which dispute as to conditions of employment is resolved amicably by agreement rather than
coercion”. It is a process of discussion and negotiation between employer and workers regarding
terms of employment and working conditions. Workers are generally represented by trade
unions with respect to expressing their grievance concerning service conditions and wages
before the employer and the management. Nishith Desai Associates (2015) report that collective
bargaining agreements in India are divided into three classes:

• Bipartite (or voluntary) agreements: are drawn up in voluntary negotiations

between the employer and the trade union.
 • Settlements: are tripartite in nature, as they involve the employer, trade union and
conciliation officer.

• Consent awards: are agreements reached while a dispute is pending before a

compulsory adjudicatory authority, and incorporated into the authority’s award.

Typically, clauses in the memorandum of settlement pertain to the following:

• Term/duration of the memorandum of settlement as may be agreed between the parties

• Settlement terms which, typically, may be with respect to wages, benefits, allowances,
arrears with respect to payment to workers, concessions, works hours, overtime etc.

• Conditions with respect to strikes and lockouts by trade unions and employers
respectively

• Obligations of workmen

• Obligations of employer

• Penalties with respect to non-compliance of the obligations of workmen and employers

• Dispute resolution

• Miscellaneous

Recent collective bargaining demands by workers in the Indian banking

sector

There are two recent examples of collective bargaining from United Forum of Bank Unions
(UFBU) sent to India Bank’s Association in December 2013. The collective bargaining
demanded for the following:

1. Immediate wage revision.

“Consequently, revision of wages and other service conditions have become due
as from 1-11- 2012. In view of this, as per the decision of the United Forum of Banks
Unions, common set of demands for the employees and officers was submitted to the
Indian Banks Association on 30-10- 2012….”

“Similarly, the workload in the bank branches has gone up substantially due to
increase in total volume of business and also due to non-provision of adequate staff and
officers in the branches. Employees and officers are working under a lot of stress and
strain. The job profile of the staff has also undergone a change and all these require to be
 properly remunerated with adequate increase in wages. For this reason, also the wage
increase has become important…”

2. Stop banking sector reforms.

“The Discussion Paper also proposes that the Banks may resort to merger of
Banks to become international Banks. Our Banks are meant for our own economic
development and hence this is clearly unwarranted. Further merger has its own adverse
implications to the detriment of the employees and officers working in the Banks”
“A developing country like India needs a very strong, vibrant and well-regulated
banking system and attempts to de-regulate them in the name of reforms is wrong with
serious consequences. Hence, our demand to stop the above-mentioned banking
reforms.”

Worker Industrial Organizations in the Banking Sector

United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) is an umbrella organization comprising nine

employees’ association/union in the banking sector. The UFBU represents employees in banking
system in India, including commercial banks, the Reserve Bank of India, the National Bank for
Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), regional rural banks and co-operative banks.
These unions fight for benefits of banking employees such as achieving higher pay and better
working conditions. It also acts as a voice for employees and represents them in collective
bargaining negotiations. The list of nine associations/unions in the banking sector within UFBU
is as follow:

• All India Bank Employees’ Association;

• All India Bank Officers’ Confederation;

• National Confederation of Bank Employees;

• All India Bank Officers’ Association;

• Bank Employees Federation of India;

• Indian National Bank Employees Federation;

• Indian National Bank Officers Congress;

• National Organization of Bank Workers; and

• National Organization of Bank Officers.

Banking Sector
The post nationalization era of Industrial Relations in the banking Industry in India,
particularly in the public sector, witnessed strong militancy and over protectionism of trade unions.
There were highly volatile and sensitive conflicts that required proper tackling with utmost care
and caution. While the work culture amongst the bank personnel deteriorated fast instead of
improving, observation shows that such a situation prevailed, more or less, in other industries,
including Government service. At the same time, one cannot be complacent particularly in a
service-oriented system like banking. Though various other factors contributed to the present state
of affairs, certain important areas related to human capital are focused on in this article that need
due attention and care.

Historical Background

The problem in industrial relations in the Banking Industry in India came to the fore for the
first time in the years immediately following the Second World War. The bank employees set up
in 1946 a central organization viz. the All India Bank Employee’s Association to direct the course
of their industrial action. The labour unrest in banks was particularly pronounced in Bombay,
Bengal and Uttar Pradesh Strikes and agitation in many banks led to the intervention of the State
Government concerned who set in motion their industrial machinery to deal with the disputes
relating to banks operating in areas under their jurisdiction. The principal provincial adjudication
awards in the banking industry resulting from such intervention were:

1. The Bombay Banks Award

2. The Award of Shri B.B. Singh
3. The Award by S.K.Sen

There were also separate awards given during this period regarding the Imperial Bank of India.
As a result of these different awards there arose the problem of dipartites in service conditions
between banks in different provinces as well as branches of the same bank in different places. All
these tended to add to the discontent and unrest in industry. Therefore, in April 1949, the Govt. of
India took over the responsibility of dealing with disputes in banking industry by issuing the
Industrial Dispute Ordinance. In June 1949, the Government constituted a tribunal under the
Chairmanship of Shri K.C. Sen, to adjudicate the industrial disputes in the banking companies.
The Sen Tribunal made its award on July 1950 covering the various items in dispute such as pay scales,
dearness allowances, special allowances, house rent allowances, bonus, over-time. Provident Fund,
gratuity, leave, hours of work, overtime pa3rment, recruitment and pronation. But some of the Banks
challenged this award before the Supreme Court and in April 1957 the Supreme Court declared the award
void on a technical point concerning the composition of the tribunal without dealing with any question
relating to the merits of any matter dealt with in the Award. The Government of India passed a temporary
Act freezing the scales of pay and rates of allowances by the Sen Tribunal and appointed in July 1975 an
Industrial Tribunal, But owing to the resignations of the Chairman and the members, the Tribunal had
soon to be dissolved. In 1952 therefore Government appointed another Tribunal with Shri Shastri as the
Chairman. The Shastri Award was published in 1953 April, covering in all 129 banks in respect of thirty-
four different items relating to 239 wages and service conditions. The Award however left both the parties
dissatisfied who preferred appeals against it before Labour Appellate Tribunal. In order to consider the
matter more objectively, the Government requested the Reserve Bank of India to conduct a rapid survey
of the likely effects of the Labour Appellate Tribunal on the working of a sample of banks. This intervention
by the Government to modify the Labour Appellate Tribunal decision provoked the bank employees to
resort to widespread agitations including strikes in all banks all over India except the Reserve Bank and
the matter was so raised in Parliament. The Government was obliged to appoint on 17th September, 1954
a one-man Commission under Shri G.S. Rajadhyaksha to enquire into the likely effects of the Labour
Appellate Tribunal and to make recommendations. Due to the death of Shri Rajadhyaksha, the
Commission was reconstituted on 7th March, 1955 with Shri P.B. GaJendrakar as Chairman. The
Commission submitted its report on 25th July 1955. On the expiry of the modified Sastry Award the All
India Bank Employee’ s Association and the newly formed All India Bank Employee’ s Federation served
notices of reanimation of the Award in April, 1959. The All India State Bank of India Federation presented
its charter of demands and later gave notice of strike on 1st February, 1960. The State Bank strike marked
the beginning of a general strike in banks all over the country 240 in sympathy with the State Bank
employees as well as in support of the demands of other bank workers. Under the provisions of the
Industrial Disputes Act National Industrial Tribunal presided over by Shri K.T.Desai to hear the bank
dispute was constituted in March» 1960. By separate reference on the same date the Govemment
referred to the Tribunal the dispute between the Reserve Bank of India and its workmen staff. Thus, for
the first time the Reserve Bank became a party to adjudication proceedings before an industrial tribunal.
The Award of Desai Tribunal in respect of commercial banks was kept in force till July, 1965. The protest
against the extension of Desai Award the All India Bank Employee’ s Association called a country wise
agitation in August, 1964. The Government invited the parties to discuss the matters even though the
award had been already extended. As regards the clerical staff the All India Reserve Bank Employee’ s
Association presented a charter of demand to the Bank in November 1955. As no Agreement could be
reached in negotiations which followed, both the parties agreed to on 2li.th January 1967 to refer the
matter for arbitration. The Arbitrator gave his award in February 1967

Various Industrial Relations Aspects relating to Banking Sector

1. Trade Unions: The trade union movement in the banking industry dates back to pre-
independence. It has crossed various milestones and gained rich experience. To safeguard
its own position and retain power, the unions displayed their collective strength to the rank
and file, with concerted actions, and a confrontational approach. In accomplishing their
objectives, they contributed indirectly to the present deterioration. The power
concentration enjoyed till yester-years by major trade unions/associations particularly
after nationalization exerted influence/pressure on bank managements as well as the
Government, percolated a strong notion amongst its employees to misuse their position.
They were inclined to defy even lawful and reasonable orders of the management, or resist
at every stage, at the cost of operational efficiency. Right from the top executive to the
line manager, crisis management reigned which had long-term adverse effects including
 poor performance, conflict, and impediments to increased productivity and improved
service.

2. Union Rivalry: Despite inter-union and intra-union rivalry, circumstances led to the
emergence of United Forum of Bank Unions with the participation of nine major
Unions/Associations in the recent wage negotiations. To prove its own bargaining
capacity, multiple unions hitherto placed various demands, creating administrative
inconvenience while a single majority trade union pressurized and outwit the management.
Although the managements tried to take advantage of the divisions within the unions, they
did not achieve the desired results because of the militancy of trade unions. It was then
preferred not to encourage multiplicity of unions, but to invite the suggestions of major
representative unions for examining their views. In any case, undue interference of unions
in decision-making adversely affected the industry, leading to deterioration in discipline,
efficiency and performance effectiveness.

To avoid multiplicity of unions the amendments to Indian Trade Unions'' Act, 1926
is a welcome move that includes Section 4 enhancing the minimum requirement to register
a trade union; from seven to one hundred, with at least 10% of the workmen must be the
members of the union before it can be granted registration. Outside office bearers to be
reduced in trade unions.

3. Collective Bargaining: Over a period, the unions enjoyed unfettered power at the
expense of managements and even its own members. The basic concept of collective
bargain itself was totally forgotten. Having gained power, the major unions did not play
their appropriate role of improving productivity while simultaneously protecting the
legitimate rights of employees.

The secret ballot system was not prevalent, union leaders were elected by a
nominated panel and hence the interests of the majority of workers were not reflected. The
interests of the union leaders and their close associates took precedence over the legitimate
interests of the workers.

4. Threats of Agitation: The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) members
have decided to go on a nationwide strike on December 12 2001. The strike is a protest
against the Government's move to privatize nationalized banks and make amendments in
labor law and Industrial Dispute Act1.

A very regular feature in the industry was threats of agitation, non-co-operation,

stoppage of work, go-slow tactics, demonstrations, gherao, strikes etc. The employees very
often resorted to such threats because powerful unions could bring the economy to a
grinding halt and force managements to yield to unreasonable demands. While unions
should be able to exercise their legitimate rights and protect the employees against
victimization the method unions used has been coercion. The existing legal and service
provisions were adequate to contain unwarranted illegal agitations, however management,
trying to purchase peace, did not tackle the illegal agitations with will and determination.
 The strong unity of employees backed by over protectionism of unions camouflage the
misdeeds of certain employees. They misrepresent the facts making the in-charge a hapless
victim or scapegoat.

Even the unions have realized that the common man is much disgusted with
frequent agitations/strikes of bank men. Amendments to Sections 22 & 23 of Industrial
Disputes Act 1947, the Act being renamed as Industrial Relations Act stipulate that Unions
should take strike decisions only by secret ballot, only if it is supported by a qualifying
majority worker and after obtaining permission from labor authorities. There will be a
compulsory and mandatory notice of 30 days for any strike action by workers both in
public utility and non-public utility industries.

5. Bilateral Negotiations: In the recent past whenever negotiations took place,

management would demand that unions discourage certain restrictive practices adopted
by employees. However, these agreements were only on paper and the union failed to
discourage restrictive practices. Employees continued to strongly resist the local
managements by refusal and disobedience.

In extreme cases, such refusal of lawful and reasonable orders of the management
would have been firmly dealt with by initiating drastic disciplinary action such as by
charging employees under major penalty proceedings. Accountability, responsibility,
work norms and completion of allotted days’ work, be it an employee or officer, could not
be ensured. Unions were unable to support even a right cause for their own reasons
including fear that employees might shift loyalty to other floor shops.

6. Overtime: Though overtime is almost extinct now, it is an interesting case because even
the sudden drastic curtailment of overtime did not affect the industry. Banking being
service-oriented and production intangible, the concept of overtime was misconceived as
a way for employees to unduly gain additional pay. With the intent of gaining overtime,
certain employees slowed down the day’s work accumulating arrears on some plea or the
other. If supervisors ensured a full day's work, and did not allow employees to fritter away
office time, it would result in optimum utilization of available human resources.

In the present hi-tech environment, downsizing and redeployment are order of the
day. Overtime can be totally eradicated and wherever employees are required to put in
extra hours can be compensated by exception. Management was able to handle even the
sensitive area of overtime without relying on any amendments to the existing statutes/
bilateral agreements. Similarly, they should be able to enforce better employee behavior
in other areas which will contribute to better customer service.

7. Frauds: Reserve Bank of India, central bank of the country has informed the Joint
Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that the total amount involved in fraudulent cases has
increased almost five times to INR 640.04 crore in 1999 from INR 132.37 crore in 1995.
Employee reluctance to clear the backlog in arrears in balancing books and non-
observance of systems & procedures can leave hidden frauds unearthed. Until new
mechanization, through digital technology, is complete, including rural branches, the work
 force has to be educated on the necessity of up-keep of procedures for their own interest
as well as the interest of the organization. Energizing human capital to equip themselves
to tackle the new challenges in emerging e-frauds in the years ahead and strengthening
computer audit will be another task for one and all.

8. Punctuality and Attendance: The directives of Government on punctuality and

discipline and ritual "surprise" checking by controlling offices has had little effect on
erring employees. Frequent absconding from the desk/counter was a common
phenomenon hampering customer service. The entry of private and foreign banks with
limited areas of operation is not enough to give effective competition to the wide spread
network of public sector on whom majority of the clientele depend. Effective surprise
checks would be one effective tool for combating attendance problems. Furthermore, if
employees simply realized that organizational survival depends on customer satisfaction
it would improve matters significantly.

9. Unauthorized Absence: Regular absence of members of the work force without any
information to the bank is uncontrollable causing administrative dislocation of the daily
routine. In the latest bipartite settlement, unions signed an amendment treating long
unauthorized absence as voluntary cessation under the category of major misconduct. This
is a move in right direction. To tackle chronic absence, the superior functionaries at the
branch level could not initiate suitable action besides treating such absence as
unauthorized without pay and allowances. It is hoped this action would have a deterrent
effect on other erring employees.

10. Customer Service: When a customer enters the bank, the employee at the counter plays
a vital role in reducing his dissatisfaction with courtesy and a customer friendly approach.
The onus of transforming the generally negative impression of public against banker
mainly rests with line staff. Very few customers lodge their grievances in writing so there
is no point relying on statistical data on the number of complaints received. Instead, top
management and the unions have no alternative but to take a serious look at the ground
realities and inspire the work force to march ahead at cyber speed to improve their
customer base and product mix.

11. Government as Intermediary: To accelerate the pace and extant of economic reforms,
the coalition Central/Federal Government, despite its own political constraints, is
calculatedly marching ahead by bringing out suitable amendments to the outdated labor
legislations/statutes at the same time protecting the interests of work force without giving
blanket permission to hire and fire to the industry. Important amendments include:
Deletion of Chapter V B of ID Act, Severance package of one month, Role of industrial
tribunals, Contract labor, Introduction of strike ballot, Time limit of 3 years for initiating
industrial disputes, Minimum 10% or at least 100 employees to form and register a union,
reduce number of outside office bearers in trade unions are some major sectoral policy
 modifications. Employers hail these amendments as opening up the Indian economy with
tremendous opportunities for industrial growth, whereas the unions oppose it as being anti-
labor.

12. New Role of Trade Unions: Being encircled by unavoidable changes, the matured bank
trade unions can now spend some time on introspection and initiate corrective measures.
They must change from confrontation to co-operation, from protectionism to
professionalism and educate the employees. The omnipresence of unions is not a
hindrance rather unavoidable dependency without losing independence. Both management
and unions must work together in discharging their respective obligations for mutual
existence, growth and organizational excellence.

13. Building Corporate Culture: The rapidly changing managerial profile of CEO from
the traditional holy trinity of planning, organizing and controlling to that of strategist,
aligner, change agent, visionary, team builder, living symbol, buck stopper is a paradigm
shift towards integrated global economy. Creating mutual trust and confidence,
transparency, bringing attitudinal change in employees and trade unions is the prime
responsibility of the top management. People with self-motivation can drive themselves
to incredible levels of excellence. At the time when the concept of ''cradle to grave''
approach is fast assuming, ''environmental relations'' are replacing traditional industrial
relations, and at the click of mouse the information is pouring down; and to cater the needs
of creative customer at this cut throat competition, the CEO cannot be a silent spectator
lest he shall be on the brink of extinction.

14. Productivity: There is no fixed yardstick to quantitatively measure services in a public

utility sector like banking except by comparing profits and per employee business. To
achieve industry norms many banks are struggling hard to adopt a flat lean organizational
structure with empowerment and right sizing due to e-banking, optimize operational
efficiency and productivity with more customer satisfaction.

15. Managerial Efficiency: Lack of commitment and accountability, a shortsighted

approach in formulating policies and decisions, and administrative in capabilities right
from top management through the various levels of hierarchy give scope for undue
interference of unions. Honest decisions and conduct of higher officials would certainly
set an example to the subordinates. At the same time, attributing total responsibility to the
militant trade unions for eroding performance effectiveness cannot at all be justified;
management cannot disown their own weaknesses. The management can be strong, firm,
unbiased, kind, considerate, while setting new values, attitudes and beliefs leading to
openness, mutual trust and participative management based on philosophy of Fair, Firm
and Friendly. Management must ensure no victimization, have a fair labor policy, take just
decisions and redress all legitimate grievances on time. This will gain the confidence of
employees and enhance their involvement.
16. Role of HRM: It is widely accepted that unless people working in organization are
emotionally inspired with job satisfaction and job involvement, environmental relations
cannot be improved for effective performance in the long run. Contractual agreements on
basic financial and non-financial Maslow´s basic hierarchical needs are taken care of by
mature trade unions at the apex level of the industry. Instead of blaming trade unions,
management should long ago have initiated necessary steps to enable people to
metamorphose the aforesaid negative traits to positive strengths. The internal and external
changes led to the development of strategic human resource management (SHRM)
reorienting ''push-oriented'' HRM (reactive) to ''pull-oriented'' HRM (pro-active). In the
current new scenario of LPG liberalization, privatization and globalization, it is imperative
to bring transformational change on the following unpalatable hard options to create net
banking in the information age.
.
17. Downsizing/Right sizing Manpower Strength: To realign with present realities,
transformational organizations need restructuring, operational specialization, and the
infusion of electronic world into banking all of which have created a sense of job insecurity
among the workforce and unions. To keep pace with technological revolution some excess
workers could neither be re-trained to metamorphosed e-knowledge skilled worker nor
could they be redeployed/fired. Being unable to set the mind of such workers or unions to
accept the dramatic changes in the information society, despite knowing fully well that
lean structure will certainly result in better organizational efficiency; the top managements
of some banks put forth their illusionary arguments of having no surplus manpower. In
such a conflicting situation, the Central Government as apart of secondary economic
reforms introduced the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) taking care of the senior
worker, which some top management implemented reluctantly though the unions
vehemently opposed it, saying it was retrenchment. Despite unions canvassing against it,
the scheme evoked unprecedented response and more than 100,000 bank men, constituting
an 11% reduction. However, this was still lower than the World Bank/IMF stipulated
target of 25% to 35%.

18. Post-VRS Scenario: The unexpected exodus including even its own leadership, has
created many challenges for the unions including the dilution of collective bargaining
strength, erosion in membership affecting its Director representation on Bank’s Board,
fading image, and reduced revenue. On the other hand, the Organizations being unable to
redeploy/relocate the remaining manpower to the deserted branches/offices nor evolve an
acceptable transfer/relocation policy by convincing the unions simply pass on time during
the temporary transition. The managements cannot satiate by just implementing the
scheme once, rather they shall have to prune further by its reintroduction shortly to achieve
the targeted gap that will definitely accelerate the organizational all-round synergy.
19. Knowledge worker: The paradigm shift from management to governance, from
managers to complete facilitators rather than leaders, from traditional worker to Drucker’s
''knowledge worker'', from lifetime employment to quick labor turnover, from bureaucratic
organizations to networked organizations necessitated the need of relook at the
organization policies. The systematic selection process during the last two decades
attracted the cream of young talent having immense resources for growth given the
opportunities. The traditional charisma and hero-worship to inspire today’s knowledge
worker with the magic spell of their platform rhetoric has vanished. Employees became
more and more independent; attach high value for their individual competence and
professional pride.

Management must not allow the available intellectual capital to rot from monotony for
long years. The available skills (skills inventory) and possible potentials (potential
inventory) from within can be identified and brought out by suitably modifying the
policies and up-grading the potential appraisal system, develop career paths, change in
promotion policy, empowerment, flexibility, decentralized decision-making, timely
recognition of good performance, project need specialization and reorient training system
etc. At this juncture, it is worth referring the recommendations of HRM committee
constituted by Ministry of Finance inter-alia stated to be;
• Reduce the time-span for career progression from Junior Management Grade Scale
I to Top Executive Grade Scale VII from 25 years to 20 years and curtailing the
number of scales in officer’s grade from seven to five, and
• Introduce Fast Track Channel for promotion and making rural service as incentive
oriented.

20. Training & Development: Training and re-training costs less than retrenchment.
Training even the redundant employees in marketable skills and outplacement services
including counseling offers opportunities to deal with workforce obsolescence and
redundancy in a labor-friendly manner.

The training system has to be ready to train when called for any change and be able to
bring attitudinal change in the employee reorientation. Without simply confining to skill
development, the curriculum has to include an all-round development strategy in pace with
the organizational goals, motivational and behavioral training, team building exercises etc.
Instead of making training a ritual for statistical purpose, trainers have to adopt
professionalism to inculcate interest in trainees and inspire them with the modern
techniques avoiding slumber lectures. The Indian Banks Association (IBA) may launch
Distance Learning programme for bankers through professional bank academic institutes
of repute like Indian Institute of Bankers (IIB), National Institute of Bank Management
 (NIBM) interwoven with incentives to remodel ''concern'' worker developed as ''enabled''
worker.

CONCLUSION
The concept of wages included economic, sociological, and organizational elements. In an
industrial society, wages determine the workers way of life including his social position. A number
of theories have been advanced attempting to explain different dimensions of wages. Wage
theorists however have given much thought and devoted much research to attempting to discover
an acceptable general theory of wages that would explain in all circumstances the way in which
the levels of wages are determined. Wages in banks are settled after long negotiations between the
management and workmen unions/officer associations. The wage policy in banking is the best with
national coverage of the entire industry. The DA is linked to the Consumer Price Index. A number
of special/other allowances are additionally paid linked to specified duties. The fringe benefits are
to the optimum with safer social security in old age. The latest VII Bipartite Settlement despite
strong powerful trade unions/associations has not yielded any substantial increase in wages
compared to earlier settlements that clearly indicates the wages are at the optimum vis-à-vis wages
of other organized/unorganized sectors. While financial and non-financial benefits are quite
adequately taken care of by the well-organized white collared unions, as analyzed hereinabove; to
optimize operational efficiency and customer-oriented approach, slim flat organizations have to
bring attitudinal change and metamorphose the workforce to knowledge worker attaching high
value to individual competence and professional pride to accelerate overall organizational
synergy.