NCBISU Sees Red As Public Sector Banks Recruits Apprentices

Staying lean is the new mantra. None could dispute it. Still, it has given rise to a sense of distrust. Well, the National Confederation of Bank of India Staff Unions (NCBISU) has not taken kindly to this one move by the public sector banks. It has expressed strong opposition to the recent decision of public sector banks to recruit apprentices instead of conducting regular permanent recruitment. In a circular issued on March 1, NCBISU has pointed out that several public sector banks have recently started hiring apprentices under the Apprentices Act, 1961. Following this trend, Bank of India has also announced the engagement of 400 apprentices across the country. It sees in this move a step towards contractual employment, which could weaken job security and affect the rights of regular employees. The union believes that this decision will have serious negative implications for employees and the banking sector as a whole. Significantly enough, the engagement of apprentices is limited to just one year. What happens after one year?  The union believes that this arrangement offers no real career prospects to the apprentices and could result in exploitation of young workers who seek long-term employment opportunities in the banking sector. Questions have also been raised about the suitability of apprenticeships in the banking sector. Who will be responsible for training these apprentices? Well, the issue of contract workers (disguised in different nomenclature) is turning out to be a hot subject.