22/12/2016
Source : http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=155718
Demonetisation puts Bank Employees under stress – Bank Unions plan Demonstrations on Dec. 28
Employees Association (AIBEA) and the All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA) have given a call for demonstration against the problems that various banks and their employees were facing due to demonetisation.
They plan to undertake demonstrations on December 28, followed by the unions addressing a letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on December 29. The unions also plan to stage demonstrations on the issue on January 2 and 3.
AIBEA general secretary C.H. Venkatchalam and his AIBOA counterpart S. Nagrajan, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said: “As per the call of our organisations, already our units have undertaken the programme of demonstrations in all major centres and met the local executives of the RBI to hand over our memorandum.”
The unions have demanded supply of adequate cash to all banks and branches, restoration of all ATMs without further delay and transparency in cash supply to banks.
“If the RBI is not able to supply adequate cash to banks, then decision should be taken to suspend cash transactions in the bank branches till sufficient cash is supplied to banks,” the statement said.
They also demanded a CBI inquiry into the cases of seizure of huge number of new currency with some persons when bank branches are cash starved.
The unions demanded compensation to the families of the persons and bank staff who lost their lives recently due to demonetisation.
They asked the RBI and State governments to ensure safety and protection of bank employees and officers by maintaining law and order in all branches to prevent harassment of the staff.
The Bank employees also demanded proper compensation to employees and officers for their extra work/late sittings done in the last more than a month.
Both the unions claim to have over 5.50 lakh members out of the nearly 9 lakh bank employees in the country.
Source: The Hindu
Government Clarification on Amendment to Payment of Wages Act
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Labour & Employment
Government of India
Ministry of Labour & Employment
21-December-2016 13:41 IST
Government Clarification on Amendment to Payment of Wages Act
It is seen from the media reports that there is a general impression that is being created that the Government is bringing an amendment to the Payment of Wages Act to make mandatory the payment of wages to the workers only through cheque or accounts transfers. This is not the correct position.
It is clarified that the government proposes to bring an amendment to Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act which will further provide crediting the wages in the bank account of the employees or payment through cheque along with the existing provisions of payment in current coin or currency notes.
This is being done to facilitate the employers from making payment of wages using the banking facilities also in addition to the existing modes of payment of wages in current coin or currency notes.
Also, the appropriate Government (Centre or State) will have to come up with the notification to specify the industrial or other establishments where the employer shall pay wages through cheque or by crediting the wages in employees’ bank account. It is, therefore, clear that the option of payment through cash is still available with the employers for payment of wages.
It may be understood that the Payment of Wages Act was passed in the year 1936 (eighty years ago) and the situation prevailing at that point of time has completely undergone a technological revolution. Most of the transactions now take place through the banking channels. The proposal of Ministry of Labour and Employment to bring an amendment to Section 6 of the Act is an additional facility of crediting the wages in the bank account of the employees or payment through cheque along with the existing provisions of payment in current coin or currency notes.
The above proposed amendment will also ensure that minimum wages are paid to the employees and their social security rights can be protected. Thus the employers can no longer under-quote the number of employees employed by them in their establishments to avoid becoming a subscriber to the EPFO or ESIC schemes.
It is also pointed out that the states like Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana have already come out with notifications to provide for payment through banking channels.
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