SBI to be a part of Feb 29 strike
State Bank of India in a statement said that a part of its workers may participate in the All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) agitation on 29 February. SBI in a filing to BSE said that since it was affiliated to AIBOC it will participate in the strike which aims to protest the termination of Dhanlaxmi Banks' PV Mohanan's tenure.
On 11 June 2015, P.V. Mohanan, General Secretary of the Dhanalaksmi Bank Officers' Organisation (DBOO) and State president of the All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) was given the termination order by the bank. The bank used the Clause 14 (i) under Chapter IV of the Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd Officers Service Regulations to sack him after 38 years of service.
The Dhanlaxmi Bank based out of Kerala is an old generation private sector bank. The Dhanlaxmi Bank Officers Organisation (DBOO) has approximately 2.75 lakh officers as its members.
The Kerala unit of AIBOC organised a strike on 12 June 2015, and 1200 members of DBOO sat on a 33-day-long hunger strike for the reinstatement of Mohanan. Conciliatory meetings were held in July 2015 and an understanding was reached between the bank management and AIBOC. State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala ordered to "freeze the termination order" and resolve the matter in 2 months.
The Dhanalakshmi Bank Samara Sahaya Samithi launched an indefinite agitation from January 2016 and was supported by various political parties and organisations. The organisation contended that the Dhanlaxmi Bank management had violated the settlement terms given by Chennithala in July 2015. They said that the termination order had not been frozen and his salary had not been given to him since his termination date.
AIBOC declared that it would go on nationwide strike on 29 February to seek the reinstatement of a Kerala-based Dhanlaxmi Bank official. AIBOC contended that the bank had ended the services of P V Mohanan, the general secretary, Dhanlaxmi Bank Officers Organisation without providing any reason for the termination. AIBOC said that this was done as Mohanan had unmasked the irregularities within the bank.
