How Bhagawan saved the Andhra Bank
Thursday, December 8th, 2011
Do all actions as actors in a play, keeping your identity separate and not attaching yourself too much to your role. Remember that the whole thing is just a play and the Lord has assigned to you a part; act well your part; there your duty ends. He has designed the play and He enjoys it, says Bhagawan. Padmashri Sri Gopal Rao, the former Andhra Bank Chairman, in his long stint as a banker had the good fortune of experiencing ‘His Divine Directions’, while remaining himself a puppet in His hand, thus effecting a justified solution to one of the longest strikes unprecedented in the annals of bank history. Later upon his retirement, Sri Gopal Rao lived in Prasanthi Nilayam, serving His Lotus Feet, leading an exemplary life till his merger at His Lotus Feet in 2008. Read on… (From our Sanathana Sarathi archives)…
“Gopal Rao, how is the strike in your bank?”
“Swami, it has just started,” I replied.
“Stand firm with courage, don’t yield,” Swami directed.
It was early in March, 1972, Swami was on His way to Bangalore after visiting Delhi. During the brief stop‑over at Hyderabad, Swami graciously came out of the plane and gave darshan to a few devotees waiting outside the airport.
Swami was referring to a unique strike that had just commenced in the Andhra Bank. It was the longest strike and unprecedented in the annals of bank history. It started as a total strike, with everyone from the watchman upwards participating. For the first time, branch managers also struck work.
The strike was on an unconventional issue. The Andhra Bank Employees Union (ABEU), which is a union of workmen, had got the officers’ association (ABOA) to merge with it and then claimed the right to speak for the entire staff. The bank management, of which I was the chairman, said that we would deal with an association of officers or with individual officers for their problems and not with the workmen’s union. The issue had nation‑wide repercussions and the Andhra Bank was hardly the appropriate forum for settling such an issue.
After serving for 13 years with the Indian Bank and with the Bank of Baroda for 26 years, I became the chairman of the Andhra Bank in June 1968 at the instance of the Reserve Bank of India, which felt the need for a competent banker, preferably Andhra based, to pull the Andhra Bank out of a difficult situation. Before taking charge, I sought Swami’s blessings in Puttaparthi—the wisest thing I ever did. He asked me to accept the challenge. I am certain that all that happened during the next five years could be accomplished only because of His benign protection and grace.
The Bank’s position was quite appalling. There was stagnation in deposit growth, advances and profits—large advances had turned sticky. The Bank was overstaffed to suffocation with peons, watchmen and clerks. Matriculates and non‑graduates dominated the clerical and officer‑cadres. The employees’ union was very powerful, with the management yielding all the time. In 1966, the management was forced to sign an agreement with the union under which all vacancies in the junior officers’ cadre had to be filled by promotions from the clerical cadre on the basis of seniority alone and that too with heavy preference for matriculates and non‑graduates. This agreement proved to be a millstone round the bank’s neck.
At the very first meeting of the board, I told the directors that all my decisions would be governed by the Bank’s interest and nothing else. To the officer staff at their annual meeting I outlined my objectives for the bank: Increase in deposits from 39 crores to over 100 crores, trebling of branches from 115 to 345, and opportunities for advancement to deserving members of the staff. By Swami’s grace, these goals were actually realised before I completed my term.
The Union lost no time in confronting me with a demand that any member of the sub‑staff (peons, watchmen etc.) who produces a matriculation certificate should be promoted as clerk without any test or interview and whether there was any vacancy or not. No other bank had done this. I could not allow the Andhra Bank to be converted into the Peon’s Bank of Andhra! So, in November, 1968, within four months, the union brought on a strike on this issue which lasted 30 days. The bank could function because the officer staff co‑operated. There was unexpected support for us from the Regional Labour Commissioner unasked and the union had to call off the strike.
In August, 1970, on the same issue of sub‑staff, a work‑to‑rule agitation was launched, which lasted 109 days. After the 100th day, I approached Swami for the first time with my bank’s problems. In His omniscience, Swami told me that everything would be settled in a few days for, at that very moment, our union secretary was being taken to task by their bosses in the All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) at Bombay for embarking on an agitation which the management could withstand for 100 days! The AIBEA intervened at my request and made our union sign an agreement on our terms.
At this stage Swami warned me that the next agitation would come from the top (officers). In January 1972, the union decided to have the officers’ association merge with itself, so that it could have the entire staff of the bank under its control. The union notified the bank that unless we agreed to discuss with them all matters concerning officers, a work‑to‑rule agitation would be launched from February 28 to March 8. We refused to recognise the union’s right to represent officers and said we would discuss officers’ problems only with an Association of Officers or individually. A new Association of Officers was formed on 26‑2‑1972 with the management’s active support.
Bhagawan’s Advice
On 1‑3‑1972 the Union gave notice of a total strike from 9‑2‑1972. We said the strike was illegal. This was later upheld by the Government of India’s conciliation machinery. I met the Union Labour Minister in Bombay and briefed him about the situation. He agreed with our stand. Throughout the long struggle that followed, he never wavered in this view, much to the discomfiture of the AIBEA.
This was the stage when Swami asked me at the Hyderabad Airport “to stand firm with courage” and not to yield. This assurance gave me the strength to face all the problems that arose after the strike began.
The historic strike began on 9‑3‑72 with the closure of almost all our 210 branches. We took a firm resolve that, come what may, we would not allow the bond of trust between the bank and its depositors to be broken. Throughout the strike, we gave wide publicity to our stand.
It was a sit‑in‑strike. We called each officer separately and assigned him to one of our numerous city branches to help re‑open them. Those who said they were on strike were led out and kept out of the bank’s premises for the duration of the strike. With the cooperation of the rest, our numerous branches in the twin cities (Hyderabad and Secunderabad) started functioning, after remaining closed for a week. The resumption of work by these officers from the central office proved disastrous for the union.
The tempo of the agitation was very high, with abusive slogan‑shouting etc. There was no communication between the central office and mofussil branches. Mail and even telegrams were not allowed to be opened.
Since the staff of other banks would not touch our cheques during the strike, bank managements kept the clearing house in Hyderabad and mofussil closed throughout the strike. There were demonstrations in our premises, in our main branch by the staff of the Reserve Bank of India. When the police took them away to book cases against them, the RBI staff promptly called off their strike.
There was moral support for us from the chambers of commerce in Hyderabad and the mofussil. The public wanted the matter to be settled once and for all; they were fed up with the union’s frequent agitations and did not want us to yield. The union was getting isolated.
The reopening of more and more branches was resulting in large‑scale dismissal of branch agents. By 28th March their number rose to 26 and by the end of the strike to 42. We were utilising the services of the newly formed Officers’ Association, whose membership quickly rose to 200. The bank obtained civil court injunctions against striking employees in important towns to prevent anyone from obstructing service to the bank’s customers.
As the strike was getting prolonged, a number of branch agents were resuming duty by re‑opening their branches. Workmen employees also started resuming. They had no pay from 1st of March. They wanted the strike to end but the union would not oblige.
On the 41st day I sought Swami’s guidance at Brindavan how to break the stalemate: Swami’s response was: “Who brought on the strike? They or you? Let them find the solution. You go back.”
“No work, no pay”
The prolongation of the strike must have been causing great concern for the AIBEA. Normally they could bring the banking industry across the country to a halt with one call but this time they were dealing with a bank which had practically no branches outside Andhra. Employees of other banks in other states where Andhra Bank had no exposure, were not willing to lose wages and to shout slogans against an absentee bank. The principle of “No Work; No Pay” introduced in banks for the first time, was proving very, effective as a deterrent.
During April the second month of the strike, there was Call Attention Motions in Parliament every week on the strike which were answered by the Labour Minister and the Minister of State for Finance alternately. They had to say each week that dozens of branches of Andhra Bank were being re‑opened and that finally, only three branches remained closed—those at Calcutta, Cuttack and Ahmedabad.
The main hurdle for the AIBEA to end the strike was the fate of the 42 Branch Agents whose services were terminated. Having accepted them into membership they could not abandon them to their fate. The AIBEA tried to get the Indian Banks’ Association to intervene but we told them we would deal with the situation ourselves. All we wanted from them was the strict enforcement of “No Work; No Pay”.
To break the impasse, I was urgently summoned to Delhi by the Finance Ministry. I regretted my inability to leave Hyderabad at that juncture. The Finance Secretary, who was calling, sounded threatening but I told him that the threats could have no effect on one who did not very much care for the job. The fact was Swami had told me earlier not to leave Hyderabad.
I called a Press Conference on May 8th (a Sunday) and criticised both the Labour Minister and the Minister of State, Finance, by name, holding them responsible for prolonging the strike and causing serious agony and inconvenience to the public, by not doing their duty. Their own officers had declared the strike “Illegal” but no prosecutions were allowed to be launched against the office‑bearers of the union for reasons best known to the ministers. This was prominently featured in all the important newspapers all over the country with bold headlines: “Andhra Bank Chief accuses Union Ministers”.
The next day, the Labour Minister informed me over the phone that the AIBEA had left it to him to decide the issue as he thought best and the strike would be called off with immediate effect. A day later, the AIBEA officials and the Bank’s General Manager had a meeting with the Labour Minister and accepted a Memo of Advice detailing the terms on which the strike should end. They were: (1) The Labour Minister to arbitrate on the main issue whether a workmen’s union can take in officers also as members (2) “No Work; No Pay’ for those on strike; nine officers to be treated as on suspension; management to review their cases and impose punishments where felt necessary subject to review by the Labour Minister; the rest of the 33 officers whose services were terminated to be taken back.
A helpful strike
In retrospect I was shocked when the realisation dawned on me that at that stage of its development, the bank needed such a strike. Swami knew what was good for the Andhra Bank and the country. The strike had a cathartic effect and brought about a mass transformation in the minds of the staff. After this experience, the officers and other staff worked with a zeal which was unknown in the bank. The management could get back its power to promote or recruit direct on merit. The millstone was removed.
The results for 1972, the eve of the golden jubilee of the bank, turned out to be the best in the 50 years of its existence, even with only six months in which to achieve them. There was a spectacular rise in deposits, advances and profits.
The strike acted as a catalyst for the Government of India and the banking system too. They stopped worrying every time there was an all India bank strike, even for a day or two. The principle of “No Work; No Pay” had come to stay in the Central Government also. Bank chairmen could deal with the AIBEA in a more relaxed atmosphere.
Swami’s grace and devotees’ faith
A few months after my retirement I called on Mr. Khadilkar, the Labour Minister at Delhi. He said, “They say you saved the Andhra Bank”, to which I replied, “You stood by us throughout. You saved the bank.” “It is not that I say it; the Finance Ministry says it”, said Mr. Khadilkar. “Please tell the Finance Ministry then that it is Sri Sathya Sai Baba Who saved the Andhra Bank”, I told Mr. Khadilkar.
As soon as the strike was over, I sent a telegram to Swami expressing my profound sense of gratitude for His Divine help and guidance. Without opening the telegram, Swami gave it to a director of the bank sitting opposite, saying, “Open it; it’s from Gopal Rao, to say the strike is over”.
It is difficult to explain the bank’s results in 1972 in a rational way. But Swami’s comment was: “No explanations – only experience it”. I have used the expression “Swamis Grace” many times in this narrative, but Swami says, “Grace flows only when there is FAITH”.
Did not Swami say: “Act well your part. There your duty ends. He has designed the play and He enjoys it”.
Posted in Divine Foot Prints |
