NOINO: Maharally unexpectedly successful

As decided earlier, a Maharally was organized by NOINO & NOIW on 12^th October 2011 at Yogakshem to focus on the pending issues of the employees/officers as well as to highlight the inability of the management to address these issues for a long time. The Maharally exceeded all expectations. At 1.30 hordes of employees/officers descended on Yogakshem to participate in the rally. More than 1000 employees/officers indulged in robust slogan-shouting. The whole Yogakshem area was jam-packed.

Shri Brahmesh Hardikar, Secretary, NOIW welcomed all & highlighted the issues which NOINO/NOIW were focusing on viz. One more pension option, Problems in Housing loan, Problems after EFEAP implementation, 6% PLLI to all, Cashier problems in branches etc.

Shri Atul Deshpande, GS, NOIW gave an intense & fiery speech. He stated that due to the transfer of the staff housing loan portfolio to LIC HFL, the employees were aggrieved on various problems. He also stated that the repayment method adopted by LIC HFL was erroneous & consequently, the employees had to pay much more than what they would have paid had the portfolio been with LIC itself. He quoted many figures to prove his point. He said that on an average if 50000 employees availed of loan of 12 lakhs, then together we would be paying about 3000 crores more to HFL. In this background, he charged that there were reasons to believe that a section of management deliberately transferred the portfolio to HFL without taking the unions into confidence. He also said that NOIW demanded CBI enquiry in this matter. He also demanded that the Housing loan portfolio be brought back to LIC.

On the issue of PLLI, Shri Deshpande said that the management was adopting the ‘Divide & rule’ policy by granting different percentages of PLLI to different units & demanded uniform 6% PLLI to all. He also reiterated the demand of NOIW/NOINO that total Income should be the only parameter on which the PLLI should be based.

Shri Deshpande also expressed displeasure on the delay in Class IV recruitment & criticized the management for not meeting the deadline set by the court. He also demanded that the management should absorb all the temporary Class IV staff who have worked for even less than 5 years. Shri Deshpande warned the management of an intensified stir if it failed to meet the employees’ demands. Everybody was enthralled by his straightforward style of speech.

Thereafter Shri Ganesh Kamath, GS, NOINO launched an all-out attack on the inefficiency, lack of transparency & the unilateralism of the management. In his usual acerbic style of speech laced with satire & interspersed with humour, he went hammer & tongs at the dual standards of the management which expects the lower management & the employees to be proactive but inordinately delays the decisions pertaining to the issues of the employees. He quoted several examples to buttress his arguments.

He said that the management did not bother to have discussions with the unions since 19^th July 2010. He lamented the lack of progress on the pension option issue & said that the management was singing a different tune this year. He expressed the anguish of the employees on the issue of Housing loan issue where they felt left in the lurch due to the unilateral decision of the management to transfer the portfolio to LIC HFL. He exposed the hollowness of the management’s claims that the EFEAP problems have been solved by quoting several examples. He said that while several crores of rupees were showered on WIPRO which miserably failed in the implementation, it conveniently ignored the employees who were toiling day & night for EFEAP implementation without any extra remuneration.

Shri Kamath also questioned as to why the management was not making the ‘Statement of Intent’ (of PLLI) public. He also demanded that the parameters of PLLI should be made public before the commencement of financial year & not after that. Shri Kamath also pointed out that NOINO/NOIW had suggested two solutions to overcome the problem of paucity of cashiers, viz. recruitment of cashiers (exclusively as cashiers & not as assistant-cum-cashiers) & creating a new cadre between Assistant & HGA to get the benefit on promotion. Shri Kamath came down heavily on the ill-treatment of junior marketing officials by the senior officials & demanded that the rude behaviour be stopped forthwith. He also quoted other examples like delay in AAO notification, delay in results of Direct recruit officers etc. He also pointed out that even the intercoms of the prestigious Yogakshem were out of order for more than 3 months. Shri Kamath exhorted the management to take the unions into confidence on policy decisions & take timely steps to arrest the slide.

Shri Manish Patankar, President, NOINO, Mumbai unit proposed the vote of thanks. The impact of the meeting was seen among the employees who were seen discussing animatedly about the meeting & the issues raised in it even long after the meeting was over.