Bipartite Agreements / Settlements affecting Bank Pensioners

Following are the excerpts of various bipartite agreements / settlements between UFBU & IBA on the issues relating to pensioners

SEVENTH BIPARTITE SETTLEMENT :(Agreement dated 27.03.2000) 

# 16. Pension In relation to an employee who retires or dies while in service on or after the 1st day of April, 1998 ‘Pay’ for the purpose of Pension shall be the aggregate of the pay drawn by the member of award staff in terms of the sixth Bipartite Settlement dated 14th, February, 1995 and the dearness allowance thereon calculated upto index number 1616 points in All India Average Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers in the series 1960=100. This shall be subject to the necessary amendments to be made to the relevant provisions of Bank (Employees) Pension Regulations, 1995.

 EIGHTH BIPARTITE SETTLEMENT :(Agreement dated 02.06.2005) 

# 16. Pension (in Banks other than State Bank of India) In respect of an employee other than the employee in State Bank of India, who is a member of the Pension Fund, who retires or dies while in service or otherwise ceases to be in employment on or after the 1st May 2005, ‘Pay’ for the purpose of pension shall be the pay as in clause 6 of this settlement. This shall be subject to the necessary amendments to be made to the relevant provisions of Bank (Employees’) Pension Regulations, 1995. Note: The Bank (Employees’) Pension Regulations, 1995 does not apply to the employees of State Bank of India. 

 NINTH BIPARTITE SETTLEMENT :(Agreement dated 27.04.2010)

# 16. Pension (in Banks other than State Bank of India) 

 1. It is agreed between the parties that the terms of the Bank Employees‟ Pension Regulations, 1995 dated 29th September 1995 / 26th March 1996 shall not apply to the employees who join the services of Banks on or after 1st April 2010; and they shall be covered by a Defined Contributory Pension Scheme, which shall be governed by the provision of the Contributory Pension Scheme introduced for employees of the Central Government w.e.f. 1st January 2004, and as modified from time to time. Necessary amendments to the relevant provisions of the Bank Employees‟ Pension Regulations, 1995 dated 29th September 1995 / 26th March 1996 shall be carried out following the procedure in this regard. 

 2. Further to Clause 6 of the Bipartite Settlement dated 2nd June 2005, it is agreed between the parties as under: 16 (i) With effect from 1st May 2005, the pension of employees who retired or died while in service during the period 1st April 1998 to 31st October 2002 will be re-fixed based on the definition of „Pay‟ as defined in Clause 6(ii) of the Bipartite Settlement dated 27th March 2000. No arrears of pension and commuted value of pension will be payable on account of such re-fixing of pension. (ii) With effect from 1st May 2005, the pension of employees who retired or died while in service during the period 1st November 2002 to 30th April 2005 will be re-fixed based on the definition of „Pay‟ as defined in Clause 6 of the Bipartite Settlement dated 2nd June 2005. No arrears of pension or commuted value of pension will be payable on account of such re-fixation of pension.

 (Under the following retrograde clause ( with retrospective effect) of Ninth Bipartite Settlement (Agreement dated 27.04.2010), 100% DA Neutralization was denied for pensioners who retired prior to Nov’2002.) 

# 3. Further to Clause 7(2) of the Bipartite Settlement dated 2nd June 2005, it is agreed between the parties as under: (i) On and from 1.5.2005, in the case of employees who retired during the period 1.4.1998 to 31.10.2002, dearness relief shall be payable for every rise or be recoverable for every fall, as the case may be, of every 4 points over 1684 points in the quarterly average of the All India Average Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers in the series 1960=100. Such increase or decrease in dearness relief for every said four points shall be calculated in the manner given below:

Scale of Basic Pension per month	The rate of Dearness Relief payable as a percentage of Basic Pension
(i) Upto Rs. 3550	0.24 percent
(ii) Rs.3551 to Rs.5650	0.24 percent of Rs.3550 plus 0.20 percent of the basic pension in excess of Rs.3550
(iii) Rs.5651 to Rs.6010	0.24 percent of Rs.3550 plus 0.20 percent of the difference between Rs.3550 and Rs.5650 plus 0.12 percent of basic pension in excess of Rs. 5650.
(iv) Above Rs.6010	0.24 percent of Rs. 3550 plus 0.20 percent of the difference between Rs.3550 and Rs.5650 plus 0.12 percent  difference between Rs.5650 and Rs.6010 plus 0.06 percent of basic pension in excess of Rs.6010

TENTH BIPARTITE SETTLEMENT :(Agreement dated 25.05.2015)

# 9. Special Allowance

With effect from 1.11.2012, workmen employees shall be paid Special Allowance at 7.75% of the Basic pay with applicable DA thereon.

Note : The Special Allowance with applicable DA thereon shall not be reckoned for superannuation benefits viz., pension including contribution to NPS, PF & Gratuity.

# 15. Pension (including State Bank of India)

With effect from 1st November 2012, the Pay as defined under Clause 6 of this Settlement and drawn by the employees who are members of the Pension Fund shall be taken into consideration for the purpose of calculation of pension as per the Pension Fund Rules/ Regulations in force.

Note: Employees in service of the Banks as on 1st November 2012 and who have retired thereafter but before 25th May 2015 and who had opted for commutation of pension will have an option not to claim incremental commutation on revised basic pension.

# 15(A). Pension for Part-time Employees

With effect from 1st November 2012, for the purpose of calculating the amount of pension in respect of permanent part time employees in scale wages who are covered by the Pension Scheme, their actual service shall be reckoned for qualifying service and not pro rata. The actual service/qualifying service shall be calculated from the date of recruitment/appointment as permanent part time employee in scale wages or from 1st September 1978 whichever is later.

# 15(B). Dearness Relief on Pension

With effect from 1st November, 2012, in respect of employees who retired or died while in service on or after 1st November, 2012, Dearness Relief shall be payable at 0.10 % of the Basic Pension or Family Pension or Invalid Pension or compassionate allowance as the case may be. Dearness Relief in the above manner shall be paid half yearly for every rise or fall of 4 points over 4440 points in the quarterly average of the All India Consumer Price Index for industrial workers in the series 1960=100.

JOINT NOTE FOR OFFICERS Dated 25.05.2015

# 6) Special Allowance (w.e.f. 1.11.2012)

With effect from 1.11.2012, officers shall be paid Special Allowance as under:

Scale I-III - 7.75% of Basic Pay + applicable Dearness Allowance thereon

Scale IV-V - 10% of Basic Pay + applicable Dearness Allowance thereon

Scale VI-VII- 11% of Basic Pay + applicable Dearness Allowance thereon

Note : The special allowance with applicable DA thereon shall not be reckoned for superannuation benefits, viz, pension including NPS, PF and Gratuity

RECORD NOTE Dated 25.05.2015

Record Note of Discussions between Indian Banks’ Association and United Forum Of Bank Unions on the issues and demands relating to retirees of the Banks held on 25th May, 2015 at Mumbai.

 In the Charter of demands submitted by the Workman Unions/Offieers Associations for revision of wages and service conditions, certain demands pertaining to the superannuation benefits /issues of retirees were raised. These issues were discussed in detail on various occasions during course of negotiations on the Charter of Demands. [BA maintained that any demand of retirees can be examined only as a welfare measure as contractual relationship does not exist between banks and retirees. The periodic wage revision exercise based on mandate from member banks cover only wages and service Conditions Of servin employees. Retirement benefits are based on service conditions prevailing at the time of retirement of an employee and these do not change with subsequent settlements.

Referring to repeated comparison of pension scheme in hanks to Government pension scheme, lBA stated that while the Government pays pension out of Budgetary allocation, hank pension is a funded scheme. At the time of retirement of an employee) the bank is expected to ensure that adequate funding is made for payment of pension family pension with provision for periodic updation of Dearness  relief  payable. As such there is no provision for updation of pension in banks. Financial implications will need to be fully examined before any changes in benefits payable to pensioners can be considered. The following table gives the details discussion / conclusion reached on various issues raised:

Issues raised by the United Forum of Bank Unions	Response of the                    Indian Bank’s Association
LFC and Hospitalization reimbursement should be extended to retired bank employees	A revised hospitalization / medical expenses reimbursement scheme is being finalized for the in service employees and officers and the benefit of the coverage of this scheme would be extended to retirees also but subject to the condition that cost of the insurance premium under the Scheme would be payable by retirees. Extending Leave Fare Concession facilities to the retirees is not possible
Revision in the rates of Family Pension on the same lines of the Central Government scheme and RBI scheme	While the IBA is sympathetic to the issue, the cost involved is significant and un-affordable at the present juncture. IBA will examine cost implications and sustainability of each bank, at a future date.
Extending Dearness Relief at 100% compensation to all pre- November 2002 pensioners as in the case of post November, 2002 retirees.	Firstly the matter is sub-judice as certain cases on this issue are pending for a decision with Supreme Court.. As such,  IBA cannot take a decision on this issue at this stage. From a humanitarian point of view, IBA may examine feasibility of providing 100% dearness relief neutralization to pre-November  retirees based on a detailed costing exercise
Upgrading the basic pension of all the pensioners at the common and uniform index of 4440 points.	IBA would examine the cost implication and sustainability of member banks.
Updation of pension for all existing pensioners and family pensioners.	In view of Huge additional cost involved in funding the Pension Fund as per the requirements of AS-15-R, it would be impossible to consider this demand. Unions suggested for collecting the details of the pensioners and ascertaining the actual cost, so that a solution may be worked out.
Periodical updation / improvement in pension along with occasions of wage revision of in-service employees on the lines of the Central Government.	This being a funded scheme in lieu of contributory PF, as it is banks are contributing several times to statutory PF contributions towards funding pension scheme every year. Hence providing for periodic updation is not possible as this will have serious impact on the working of the banks.
Uniform percentage of allocation from Welfare Fund towards schemes pertaining to retirees.	Government guidelines permit banks to provide benefits to retirees out of Welfare Funds. This may be taken up at the bank level.