CHENNAI: For three months now, despite the lockdown and the severe limitations it ushered in, the banking sector has kept up its end of the bargain. With a mere 50 per cent of its staff working (or lesser, almost always), it has managed to keep up its range of services — cash transactions, salary disbursement, loan approvals, implementation of relief packages and even passbook entries and locker-box checks. All this at great personal cost to its staff.
Even after being bumped up to the category of ‘essential services’, its workers have barely been accorded the same treatment as their counterparts in the government machinery or medical fraternity. Though employees at several branches of nationalised banks in the city have tested positive for Covid over the past few months, there is little respite from work or workplace risk for the ones around them.
“It’s just a matter of time before we all fall for the infection, given that there is little success in enforcing precautionary measures among the hordes of customers visiting every day,” says Venkat*, manager of an Indian Overseas Bank branch in the city.
“Our staff follow all personal security measures, but we are having trouble controlling the customers.” Venkat says that with just two or three employees working in a branch, there are not enough people around to enforce social distancing, or check if customers are using sanitiser or wearing masks. “We certainly do not have anyone to screen the visitors for their temperature.” Even on a good day, most branches of nationalised banks do not have security guards or peons/messengers. With a good percentage of the workers stuck at home far from the office or in containment zones, or left without a feasible means of transport, this number has only increased.
Thendral*, employed with the Central Bank of India, cites their Alandur branch as an example. “We have been getting complaints almost every day. They do not have an armed guard or a peon or sub-staff. No one can be deputised there to help for there is no one to spare. Now that everyone has to show up for work, those living far from their branch report at the one closest to them. This branch also had one employee retire last month. That’s left only two workers — chief manager and junior manager — to manage day-to-day work. And they are having to report to duty every day,” she explains.
Customers, on their part, do little to help, says Shalini*, working at a State Bank of India branch. “With all kinds of transactions being allowed, people come in just to get their passbook updated. In March, I had an elderly couple come in -- the man is 70 years old and the woman, 65. They wanted to close their locker and remove its contents because come April, they would be charged Rs 7,000 for it. This has been happening in many of our branches -- senior citizen customers show up almost every other day. There is no weighing the risk to themselves or others when prioritising bank work.” While expecting 100 per cent service from less than 50 per cent staff comes with its obvious set of problems, there’s more to it than just the staff being overworked. Like any other place of work, each worker has their own area of expertise -- be it account opening, loan management, or pension funds.
With just two to four workers at a branch on any given day, they are having to move from domain-specific work to being a jack-of-all-trades. There is a great level of improvisation that happens every day, explains Shalini. While this not only forces the customers to wait around for much longer than usual, it also allows room for a lot more risks and mistakes, she notes. “Say a customer wants to check on his locker, we might not have the usual staff present that day. When someone else steps in to do the job, they might not know the customer personally and may not be able to confirm his identity by sight. They are likely to rely on the locker number given to them and hand out the keys.
What if it’s someone trying to take advantage of the situation?”The lack of transport for bank workers is yet another problem that remains unaddressed. Not everyone has the luxury of private transport; in that case, they are forced to avail of leave and remain home. Thendral had her son dropping her off at work and picking her up. When Uber and Ola were back in the play, she started availing of their services. This week, she tested positive for Covid. With fever being the only symptom so far, she is now confined to her room. She has no way of knowing if she had contracted the infection at the bank or in one of the cabs or during a grocery run. A fellow worker at her office has also tested positive -- his only exposure is believed to have been at the bank itself.
At another branch, two people on different floors tested positive. Yet, the branch workers are having to use the back gate of the closed building to continue working, she lists. At Shalini’s branch, a worker tested positive a couple of days ago. And still, they did not get cleared to shut shop and stay home.
According to the All India Nationalised Bank Officers’ Federation, as many as 313 people across 12 nationalised banks have so far contracted the virus and 25 have died of it (as of May 11). A lot of these difficulties are a direct result of bank employees unions and associations being left out of the decision-making process, says C H Venkatachalam, general secretary of All India Bank Employees Association.
This is even more evident in the way the government decided the fate of banks for the upcoming intensified lockdown. Two days after a GO announced that banks will not function except for two days of end-of-month services, it revised its stand to allow operations for limited hours. “When the government wants to restrict the movement of people, the movement of people to banks must also be reduced. For the lesser footfall, banks need not be open all day. Banking is a public utility service and not an essential service,” he says. “The country has managed without public transport for three months now. They can do so without banks too. ATMs and digital banking are anyway available.”
Bank employees, who keep the wheels of the economy turning, feel they are a neglected lot. With banks working at half capacity and many customers knocking on their doors needlessly, staff say they are overburdened and left at higher risk of being infected
313 employees across 12 nationalised banks have so far contracted the virus and 25 have died (as of May 11), according to the All India Nationalised Bank Officers’ Federation
What they say...
*Names changed