17000 RBI staff to go on mass casual leave on 19th Nov. 15

by wdtom

United forum of Reserve Bank Officers and Employees has issued a press statementcalling for mass casual leave by 17000 RBI staff, including very senior officers on 19th November 15, to protest against the government moves to cripple functions and working of RBI. The protest is also aimed at the  dilatory tactics being used by the Ministry of Finance  regarding  revision of Pension in respect of RBI Retirees .

Unions in RBI have long been pursuing for reasonable  improvements in pension, as the basic pension once fixed in RBI is never revised, although the pension scheme  in RBI is analogous to Pension Scheme in Central Government. In respect of  about 50 lakh Central Government pensioners , the periodic revision is done with every pay revision.  Moreover, the Pension in RBI was once  revised by Central Board and implemented for pre-2002 retirees, but was later withdrawn on account of unjustified and unilateral orders by M/o finance. Retirees concerned  had to approach Mumbai High court to get the unilateral orders stayed. The  issue of not updating pension is hanging for about a decade and ministry is keeping the employees genuine demands in limbo. Fed up with the Government's  tactics, the present RBI Governor  included the problem with Government in para x.28 of the RBI Annual report 2015, which no earlier governor  liked to do.
The proposed protest is also to Save RBI from the transparent  agenda of GOI to cripple RBI, despite cautionary signals from the economists of fame. Rigidity by M/o Finance in the above issues is a matter of deep concern for the RBI staff. " If very reasonable demand of improvement in  Pension is not met as  demanded by the staff, the agitation will be further escalated in the coming days"  says the press release.

AIRBIOPF fully supports the demands of the retirees and working employees and advises all the members to participate in the programme on 19th November 15 at their offices of RBI.