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SBIOA [CHENNAI CIRCLE]

“So long as you are ready to die for your Country, the life of our Country is immortal”

-Mazzini

The Saviour and Protector of the Supervising and Managerial staff viz, officers of the State Bank of India was formed in 1965.  It gave the officers freedom of association / assembly and expression under the rule of law, the indestructible building blocks of Trade Union Movement.  Earlier the officers were sandwiched between the inhuman management and militant subordinates.  The problems confronted by officers were loss of identity and dignity both as individual officials and as a group; they were groaning under frustration and indignities, increasing responsibilities, more volume of work, unlimited hours of work, less and less leisure hours, inability to fulfill family and social obligations, falling standard of living due to retrograde compensation system, eroding wage differentials between themselves and their subordinates, and host of other inequities which made life miserable.  There was no incentive to take higher responsibilities.  A feeling of alienation / helplessness was looming large in the face of draconian, stringent and straightjacket service / conduct rules and regulations.  The lack of opportunity for professional advancements, absence of job security, punitive action without any right of appeal and denial of principles of natural justice were the sum and substance of the sufferings of officers.  The “Master & Servant” relationship and the management’s power to “hire and fire” even after the nationalization of State Bank of India in 1955 greatly demoralized officers.

 SPCO TO SBIOA

 The discontent among the officers rumbled like molten lava waiting for an opportunity to come out.  Secret meetings held at different places and circulars issued under the banner of “Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Officers”, kindled the inborn desire for freedom.  The longing for unity and solidarity made the various Associations of Head Cashiers, Sub-Accountants, Staff Assistants & Staff Officers to merge and by the untiring efforts of Shri K. Sitharam, Shri M. Muthukrishnan, Shri K. Santhanakrishnan and other senior officers, the SBI Supervising Staff Association (Madras Circle) was founded in the early sixties and was registered under Trade Unions Act 1926 as was applied for on the 14th August 1965.  We owe a deep debt of gratitude to these pioneers of Officers’ Movement in Madras Circle.  The immediate reaction of the Management to the Officers’ Trade Union was hostile.  The Management even dismissed with contempt the formation treating it to be a “petition making” body.  But emboldened by this formation and disregarding the adverse reaction of the Management similar associations were formed in 3 Circles of State Bank viz., Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta.  These four circles federated to form the All India State Bank Supervising Staff Federation, which is presently named as All India State Bank officers Federation.