5th convention of Union Bank OBC Employees Union held in Lucknow

The 5th State Convention and Annual General Meeting of ‘Union Bank Other Backward Class Employees Welfare Association, Uttar Pradesh’ was organized grandly at Hotel JBR Grand located in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. Hundreds of bank officers and employees from different areas of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand participated in this state level convention. The main objective of the conference was to prepare a common strategy to protect the rights of backward class employees in the banking sector, to prevent service related discrepancies and to firmly implement the constitutional concept of social justice at the workplace.

During the program, following the democratic process, the new state executive of the organization was unanimously elected for the upcoming term. In the newly formed executive, Binod Prasad Sharma was unanimously given the important responsibility of State President, Dilip Kumar Kanojia as Executive President, Dr. Amritanshu as General Secretary, Jai Shankar Kumar as Deputy General Secretary and Pawan Kumar Patel was given the important responsibility of Treasurer. The newly elected office bearers were welcomed by the present representatives by garlanding them and reiterated their resolve to strengthen the unity of the organization.

National voice raised against social justice, reservation in promotion and privatization

G., National President of ‘All India Other Backward Class Employees Welfare Association’, who was present as the keynote speaker in the convention. In his address, Karunanidhi placed many basic and policy demands related to banking and public sector before the country’s policy makers and the Central Government. He clearly said that unless the backward classes get proper representation in high decision-making positions at the workplace, the vision of social justice will remain incomplete.

Yes. Karunanidhi called upon the Government of India to immediately implement the following key demands:

• OBC reservation in promotion: The system of constitutional reservation in service promotion for Other Backward Class (OBC) employees in the Central Government and financial institutions should be immediately restored.

• Withdrawal of DFS Instruction Letter: The disputed instruction letter (dated 06 October 2017) issued by the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Union Ministry of Finance, should be immediately withdrawn, which has adversely affected the service interests of the employees.

• Ban on privatization of public undertakings: The policies of disinvestment and privatization of strategic undertakings like Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and Indian Railways, which are considered the backbone of nation building, should be completely ended.

• Nationwide caste-based census: A comprehensive national caste census should be conducted to accurately assess the socio-economic backwardness of all sections of the country and ensure proportionate rights.

• Reservation system in the private sector: Amidst the limited opportunities for government jobs, the rules of reservation for the deprived and backward classes should be compulsorily implemented in the organized private sector of the country.

• Abolition of the provision of creamy layer: The limits and conditions of the creamy layer, which are becoming a hindrance in the path of social equality, should be completely abolished.

Demands for bilateral talks and transfer security placed before bank management: Dr. Amritanshu’s address

Addressing the convention, the newly elected General Secretary Dr. Amritanshu strongly raised the local and service related issues of the employees at the level of Union Bank Management and Financial Services Department. He said that the organization is fully committed to both the welfare of its members, transparent work culture and business development of the Bank.

Dr. Amritanshu placed two major demands before the bank management:

• Quarterly Bilateral Talks: On the same lines as there is regular dialogue with other recognized unions and employee organizations, OBC associations at every level should also be given the right to hold quarterly formal talks at the Regional Office and Zonal level.

• Protection from transfer to officials: As per the existing guidelines of the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Government of India, the Union Bank management should also provide special protection and relaxation in the transfer policy to the senior officials of the OBC Employees Union, as has already been provided to the officials of other officers and employees unions.

There was a dignified presence of literature, administration and top management of the bank.

Many senior officials from the literature, administration and banking world graced the conference by participating in this convention. The chief guest of the program was famous storyteller and former Additional Commercial Tax Commissioner Shivmurthy, who inspired the employees to be aware of their rights and remain associated with social concerns with dutifulness. Senior advisor of the organization Ravindra Ram also gave a message to the employees to remain united.

Rajesh Kumar, Zonal Chief General Manager of Union Bank of India, Lucknow Zone and T. Kameshwar Rao, Zonal Chief General Manager of Varanasi Zone were present as the proud guests of the ceremony. Among the special guests were Deputy General Manager Pradeep Awasthi and Ajay Khare from Lucknow, and Deputy General Manager K from Varanasi. D. Gupta registered his presence.

Apart from this, heads of various regional offices of the bank including Haldwani region head Nishith Raj Singh, Varanasi region head Shailendra Kumar, Lucknow region heads Sushil Kumar and Himanshu Mishra, Agra region head Rajeev Singh, Kanpur region head Jitendra Sharma and Prayagraj region head Shashikant Prasad also specially participated in the conference.

In the concluding session of the function, newly elected President of the Sangh Binod Prasad Sharma, Executive President Dilip Kumar Kanojia and Deputy General Secretary Jaishankar Kumar expressed their views and presented the outline of expansion of the organization in the entire state. In the end, Zonal Coordinator Abhishek Chaudhary declared the successful completion of the 5th convention by formally expressing his gratitude to all the chief guests, senior management officials and bank employees who had come from far and wide.