Former Rajya Sabha MP and state Secretary of Communist Party of India (CPI) Kerala Binoy Viswam on Wednesday has written letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urging the withdrawal of recent order issued by DFS for conducting performance reviews of bank employees.
"The Department of Financial Services (DFS), under the Ministry of Finance, has issued an order to the nationalized banks directing them to conduct performance reviews of employees and officers and prematurely retire those who are found to be below the par. I write this letter to request you the immediate withdrawal of this instruction," Binoy said in the letter. The CPI leader claimed that the order is "anti- workers" and a deliberate attempt to surrender the Indian banking system at the feet of the corporate ethos. "The order is inherently 'anti- workers' and undermines the basic features of the public banking sector. This is a deliberate attempt to surrender the Indian banking system at the feet of the corporate ethos. Such an order is an high handed intervention into the banking affairs and an open threat to the autonomy of public banking institutions and the rights of the employees" he said in the letter. "The government must remember that public sector banking service is not only a source of employment but also have social dimensions. We must not forget how the nationalised banks replaced "class banking" with "mass banking." The lay-offs in the name of under-productivity, the psychological impacts it has on workers in the private sector are matters of concern. In the present scenario, economists, experts and stakeholders are contesting the corporates' theory of productivity and under-productivity," it added. The CPI leader also urged the Union Finance Minister to intervene in the corporate sector to put an end to the mass lay-offs that happen in the name of under productivity. "A close perusal of the bipartite settlement reveals that adequate measures exist to address the issue of underperformance of employees. In this context, the intervention of DFS is unnecessary and unethical. As the Minister of Corporate Affairs, you must intervene in the corporate sector to put an end to the mass lay-offs that happen in the name of under productivity," he said. "The evils within corporate sector must not be implanted in the public sector. Instead of upsetting the ecosystem existing in the public banking, the government must envisage programs for people friendly and employees friendly banking. That is the lesson India must learn from the experience of global banking crisis. Thats why the workers movement and people at large urge you to desist from the anti-worker, anti- people policies," Binoy added. (ANI)
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