Strong-arm tactics of CBAs in public sector banks
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Shamsul Huq Zahid
THE old ailment -- highhandedness of the so-called collective bargaining agents (CBAs) -- is back in the public sector banks, including the central bank.
Since no government has shown enough guts to take effective measures to cure the disease permanently, it continues to afflict the banks, posing a threat to their normal operations.
However, the intensity of the problem varied at different times under different governments in power. It emerged as a major problem when the administration was found to be rather lenient to rogue CBA leaders. Whenever tough measures were taken, their activities subsided, albeit temporarily.
Of late, the problem of highhandedness of a section of CBA leaders, according to media reports, has resurfaced in full viciousness in the public sector banks, particularly in the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the banking sector regulator.
A section of CBA leaders and workers of the central bank allegedly manhandled a deputy director of the bank in the third week of August last. He is not the lone victim. At least, seven mid-level and high officials of the central bank were either physically or verbally abused by the leaders of the pro-ruling party CBAs over the years.
Under the BNP government, at least 10 officials and employees, including the presidents and general secretaries of the officers' welfare association and the then CBA of the BB, were dismissed from their services in October, 2003 for creating indiscipline and misbehaving with the then governor, Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed. Following this tough action, discipline was restored. But it has resurfaced under the incumbent government.
Newspaper reports have highlighted the grave nature of highhandedness of the present CBA leaders of the central bank. The CBA general secretary, who is a clerk, has been using an air-conditioned car of the bank despite the fact even an official enjoying the rank and status of deputy general manager (DGM) is not entitled to bank car.
The CBAs in the public sector banks draw their strength from the connection that they manage to establish with the ministers and influential members of the ruling party. The CBA leaders and their supporters give a damn to organizational discipline and interfere in the administrative and loan decisions. They allegedly earn extra bucks managing transfers and promotions of employees and securing loans for themselves and outsiders. The management deliberately avoids any clash with them for fear of possible reprisals from the political quarters.
The Bangladesh Bank authorities have already received a report from a committee it had formed to probe the incident in which one deputy director was physically assaulted by the CBA men. However, actions on the report have noticeably been slow.
Interestingly, there has been a constant shift in the allegiance of the employees of the public sector banks. They prefer to elect the trade unions that are pro-ruling party with the assumption that such a choice would help them get some service benefits.
Earlier, highhandedness of the CBAs was more in the case of state-owned commercial banks and less in the case of the central bank. Though the CBA leaders still flex their muscle in the corporatised state-owned banks the situation is now relatively better than before.
The ugly character of the CBAs reached a flashpoint in the late 1981 when gun-totting CBA leaders and supporters pushed the state-owned banks into total anarchy. They started dictating the management of the banks almost in every affair and manhandled top officials whenever they liked. At one stage the employees joined a non-stop strike thwarting normal operations of all state-owned banks during the short tenure of late president Justice Abdus Sattar.
The government issued a deadline for the striking bank employees to report to their respective duties and on expiry of the deadline, several thousand bank employees, who deified the order, were dismissed from their services.
That tough action did help restore discipline in the banking sector to a great extent. But autocrat Ershad, while in power, in a bid to create his political base in various sectors started patronizing some CBA leaders who had been responsible for triggering gross indiscipline in the state-owned banks. He even garlanded and praised an infamous CBA leader who was put behind the bar by the government of Justice Sattar.
The CBAs behaved rather rationally during 1991-96 when the BNP was in power. But the situation reversed when the Awami League came to power in 1996. The Ershad-patronised CBA leader changed his allegiance to become a ruling party man and thereafter he started calling shots in the affairs of the public sector banks.
The situation was not any better during the 2001-2006 rule of the BNP-led four-party alliance government. One CBA leader (who died in jail some months back) of the largest public sector commercial bank developed strong links with BNP ministers and used his influence in the affairs of the bank. He had made his fortune using his political links.
One of the major reasons behind the continuous decline in the performance of the public sector banks has been the strong-arm tactics of the trade unions or CBAs. Fortunately, the private sector banks are free from this menace.
Some move was made in the past to impose a ban or restrict the activities of the trade unions in the banking sector to a certain level. The move was abandoned because of political interference.
For the sake of discipline and normal operations of the bank, the government cannot allow strong-arm tactics in the name of trade union activities in the banking sector. The private sector banks are free from such problems today but their immunity from the menace may not last for long if the current problem in the public sector banks is allowed to grow bigger and bigger.
THE old ailment -- highhandedness of the so-called collective bargaining agents (CBAs) -- is back in the public sector banks, including the central bank.
Since no government has shown enough guts to take effective measures to cure the disease permanently, it continues to afflict the banks, posing a threat to their normal operations.
However, the intensity of the problem varied at different times under different governments in power. It emerged as a major problem when the administration was found to be rather lenient to rogue CBA leaders. Whenever tough measures were taken, their activities subsided, albeit temporarily.
Of late, the problem of highhandedness of a section of CBA leaders, according to media reports, has resurfaced in full viciousness in the public sector banks, particularly in the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the banking sector regulator.
A section of CBA leaders and workers of the central bank allegedly manhandled a deputy director of the bank in the third week of August last. He is not the lone victim. At least, seven mid-level and high officials of the central bank were either physically or verbally abused by the leaders of the pro-ruling party CBAs over the years.
Under the BNP government, at least 10 officials and employees, including the presidents and general secretaries of the officers' welfare association and the then CBA of the BB, were dismissed from their services in October, 2003 for creating indiscipline and misbehaving with the then governor, Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed. Following this tough action, discipline was restored. But it has resurfaced under the incumbent government.
Newspaper reports have highlighted the grave nature of highhandedness of the present CBA leaders of the central bank. The CBA general secretary, who is a clerk, has been using an air-conditioned car of the bank despite the fact even an official enjoying the rank and status of deputy general manager (DGM) is not entitled to bank car.
The CBAs in the public sector banks draw their strength from the connection that they manage to establish with the ministers and influential members of the ruling party. The CBA leaders and their supporters give a damn to organizational discipline and interfere in the administrative and loan decisions. They allegedly earn extra bucks managing transfers and promotions of employees and securing loans for themselves and outsiders. The management deliberately avoids any clash with them for fear of possible reprisals from the political quarters.
The Bangladesh Bank authorities have already received a report from a committee it had formed to probe the incident in which one deputy director was physically assaulted by the CBA men. However, actions on the report have noticeably been slow.
Interestingly, there has been a constant shift in the allegiance of the employees of the public sector banks. They prefer to elect the trade unions that are pro-ruling party with the assumption that such a choice would help them get some service benefits.
Earlier, highhandedness of the CBAs was more in the case of state-owned commercial banks and less in the case of the central bank. Though the CBA leaders still flex their muscle in the corporatised state-owned banks the situation is now relatively better than before.
The ugly character of the CBAs reached a flashpoint in the late 1981 when gun-totting CBA leaders and supporters pushed the state-owned banks into total anarchy. They started dictating the management of the banks almost in every affair and manhandled top officials whenever they liked. At one stage the employees joined a non-stop strike thwarting normal operations of all state-owned banks during the short tenure of late president Justice Abdus Sattar.
The government issued a deadline for the striking bank employees to report to their respective duties and on expiry of the deadline, several thousand bank employees, who deified the order, were dismissed from their services.
That tough action did help restore discipline in the banking sector to a great extent. But autocrat Ershad, while in power, in a bid to create his political base in various sectors started patronizing some CBA leaders who had been responsible for triggering gross indiscipline in the state-owned banks. He even garlanded and praised an infamous CBA leader who was put behind the bar by the government of Justice Sattar.
The CBAs behaved rather rationally during 1991-96 when the BNP was in power. But the situation reversed when the Awami League came to power in 1996. The Ershad-patronised CBA leader changed his allegiance to become a ruling party man and thereafter he started calling shots in the affairs of the public sector banks.
The situation was not any better during the 2001-2006 rule of the BNP-led four-party alliance government. One CBA leader (who died in jail some months back) of the largest public sector commercial bank developed strong links with BNP ministers and used his influence in the affairs of the bank. He had made his fortune using his political links.
One of the major reasons behind the continuous decline in the performance of the public sector banks has been the strong-arm tactics of the trade unions or CBAs. Fortunately, the private sector banks are free from this menace.
Some move was made in the past to impose a ban or restrict the activities of the trade unions in the banking sector to a certain level. The move was abandoned because of political interference.
For the sake of discipline and normal operations of the bank, the government cannot allow strong-arm tactics in the name of trade union activities in the banking sector. The private sector banks are free from such problems today but their immunity from the menace may not last for long if the current problem in the public sector banks is allowed to grow bigger and bigger.