We’re surprised to note that the overtime amount payable has been reduced unilaterally
Thiruvananthapuram, December 25: Award staff, including the clerical cadre, of State Bank of India (SBI) is upset that it has ‘not been adequately compensated’ for the extra hours of work put in post demonetisation.
The arbitrary manner in which overtime wages were calculated came to light only when December salary was credited on Friday, A Jayakumar, General-Secretary, State Banks Staff Union, said.
Protest demos
Fixation of overtime wages based on an individual’s designation has created a lot of confusion, he told BusinessLine here. The award staff held protest demonstrations in front of the Local Head Office (LHO) here as well as at offices in Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kozhikode on Friday.
The Chief General Manager of the LHO has assured the unions that its concerns would be conveyed to the SBI Corporate Centre in Mumbai, Jayakumar said.
BusinessLine has learnt that overtime was allowed for two hours on November 10 and 11 and for a full day on the two holidays of November 12 and 13 to ‘associates’ (clerical cadre) as following.
Overtime wages
Associates: ₹5,114; Senior Associates: ₹8,485; Special Associates: ₹13,173; and Senior Special Associates: ₹17,786.
Meanwhile, Sanjeev K Bandlish, General-Secretary, All India SBI Staff Federation, has requested the intervention of the management to set right the anomaly.
He said that the Federation has come to know that all SBI Circles were advised in regard to the amount to be paid to the award staff based on their designation.
Hourly basis
But as per the bilateral settlement dated March 31, 1967, overtime wages are to be paid according to hourly wages as are applicable and not based on the designation.
“We’re surprised to note that the overtime amount payable has been reduced unilaterally to the amount mentioned in the message from the Corporate Centre,” Bandlish said.
He recalled that business hours had been extended by three hours on November 10 and 11 and the staff had attended to every customer present in the banking hall during this period.
Balancing the day’s cash register was another huge task that required the staff to stay put in the branch for even longer
