HINDU, BUSINESS LINE,
Thiruvananthapuram, SEPTEMBER 16
:
RBI staff unions hope OROP will come their way, too
The announcement of one rank, one pension or OROP for military personnel may just have provided a trigger for a similar demand from organised trade unions in other sectors.
A
meeting of the United Forum of Reserve Bank Officers and Employees held
in Mumbai on Monday flagged the issue, union sources told BusinessLine.
Move welcomed
The
United Forum ‘welcomed’ the Centre conceding to the demand for OROP
from “a section of its staff”. It expressed high hope that “in course of
time, other sections of working people and retirees will be brought
under it (the scheme) for securing their future”. The United Forum also
took strong note of the stalemate on pension updation and opening of
pension option, issues which are being pursued for the past eight years.
Over
time, the RBI Board has taken up the issue with the Government, former
Governor of RBI D Subba Rao and the present incumbent Raghuram Rajan,
who have in turn escalated the same to various levels.
‘Long-pending’
Governor Rajan has had to refer the issue in his ‘overview’ to the bank’s annual report in 2014-15.
He had said that “long-pending improvement in pension for our retirees also assumes importance”.
Opening
of the pension issue involved only a few hundred employees/retirees, a
statement by various union leaders Samir Ghosh, SV Mahadik, CM Paulsil
and RN Vatsa said. The meeting also resolved to fight the government’s
move to emasculate the RBI in the guise of ‘regulatory reform’