RBI staff wages are decided through a bipartite settlement once in five years through negotiations between management and employee unions. The current round of wage revision is pending since November 2017.
"Our patience is wearing thin, you will please appreciate. Our members are very restive and are in highly agitated mood," said the United Forum office bearers in a letter to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on November 12.
"We, as their accredited representatives, are therefore, constrained to call upon our members to mobilize themselves and express their grievances appropriately, in organized and disciplined manner, including cessation of work through Mass Casual Leave, which we sincerely tried to avoid but an inordinate delay on Bank’s part on such a very sensitive matter compels us," the letter said
RBI staff wages are decided through a bipartite settlement once in five years through negotiations between management and employee unions. The current round of wage revision is pending since November 2017. The RBI has different unions for lower-level employees (mainly class 3 and 4 employees) and officers.
The wage settlement applies to all central bank staff although officers typically get slightly higher revision compared with lower-level employees. The Indian central bank has around 12,500-13,000 employees.
According to the union, the representatives of AIRBEA (All India Reserve Bank Employees Association) were asked to come to Mumbai for a physical meeting with RBI’s negotiating team on September 22, 2021 in presence of Executive Director in-charge of Administration.
Accordingly, AIRBEA invited its leaders from various centres to Mumbai. However, on September 24, 2021, though the AIRBEA representatives waited for the whole day for RBI's draft settlement which did not come, the Union officials said. “In the evening we were informed by the HRMD (Human Resource Management Department) officials that because of some constraints, Bank was not enabled to give us the draft and we were asked to come on Monday, the 27th September, 2021,” the officials said, adding due to this, about twenty-five AIRBEA representatives had to prolong their stay in Mumbai in anticipation of the draft.
