12th Bipartite Settlement Negotiations: Why Are Bankers Dissatisfied?

The hot topic of discussion among bank employees and officers in recent times has been the 12th Bipartite Settlement (BPS). Statements from banking unions, posts from bankers who are active on social media and reports by other related platforms indicate the weight of expectations on the year-long negotiations going on between the recognised representatives of the bank employees and officers and the management. After the negotiation talk held on 9 November failed to reach consensus, employees and related handles expressed their dismay on social media.

What is the 12th Bipartite Settlement?
A bipartite settlement is an agreement between employers and employees, defining terms like wages and working conditions through negotiation, fostering a fair working relationship. In the context of Public Sector Banking in India, bipartite settlements are held between United Forum of Bank Unions(UFBU) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) - the two parties designated to represent the employees and the management respectively.

UFBU is an umbrella of nine unions, namely AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE, AIBOA, BEFI, INBEC, INBOC, NOBW and NOBO. Indian Banks’ Association is a representative body of management officials from 12 PSBs and 21 private banks in India. The 11th Bipartite settlement was signed between IBA and the banking unions on 11 November 2020. The Charter of demands for 12th BPS was submitted by the banking unions to the IBA in October 2022.

The latest discussion on the 12th Bipartite settlement held on 9 November between IBA and UFBU included demands like the revision of wages, 5-day banking, updation of pension benefits and other key subjects.

After the meeting on 9 November, an X post (formerly Twitter) from UFBU said: “Today there was a day-long negotiation with IBA. IBA improved their offer to 16%  but this could not be agreed by us. We requested IBA to improve their offer. We also discussed the implementation of 5 day banking and improvement in pension for past retirees.”

A circular from UFBU also noted that the offer of 15% increase in the payslip-cost was made by IBA in the previous round of discussions itself held on 27 October. The specifics of the latest offer include 16% increment after merger of DA upto 8088 points with the existing basic pay, and an additional loading factor of 2.5%.

But the UFBU did not accept the revised offer and demanded further improvement both on percentage increase and the loading factor, to which the IBA was not willing to agree.

'Black Diwali for Bankers' ?
Following the failure of the latest discussion between the IBA and the UFBU just before the Diwali, a campaign from bankers started trending on X. Many tweets criticising the delay in negotiations and negative response from IBA on demands for adequate pay revisions started trending with the hashtag #BlackDiwaliForBankers.

This shows the dissatisfaction of the bankers with the negotiation going on between the IBA and the UFBU. The bankers were demanding a 30 % increase in total wage bill and a 15% loading after merging the special pay to the basic pay. In addition, a final call on the demand for ‘5-day banking’ is also awaited as part of the 12th BPS negotiations.

We Bankers, an independent trade union of bankers who are active on social media, came out in strong criticism of the negotiation talks. Their X posts claimed that a day-long discussion just to get a 1% increase in the previous offer is shameful. The IBA’s stand to give only 16% increment whereas the PSBs recorded a 31% hike in net profit was also criticised by bankers on social media.

All eyes are on further discussions, to derive a solution for the concerns of bankers regarding pay revision, 5-day banking and the updation of pension benefits.