Before 1964 the Officers of The United Commercial Bank Ltd. had no platform of their own to ventilate their grievances and frustrations as well as to establish their rights and privileges although workmen in the banks, since independence, could consolidate leading to their collective bargaining power for better pay scales and service conditions. Bank Officers in those days also were termed as white coloured employees and treated as privileged class. But, they were dependent on the mercy of the management and had to remain content with whatever little offered to them. They were forced to bear with all sorts of humiliation at the hands of bank management. No voice of protest could be raised as they were not united. In reality, they were a suffocated and depressed class. Identity crisis loomed large and the Officers were found like wandering in a cul-de-sac.

Longing for Identity: The Birth of a Dream

Bernard Shaw said "Men can not live by bread alone'. Officers of The United Commercial Bank Ltd., were no exception. They had permanent job and acceptable means of livelihood to maintain their family, but not a separate identity desperately longed for. But, the trap of temptation and allurement laid by bank management divided the officers and acted as the stumbling block between Officers' dream for unification and formation of their own organisation. The dream for identity and unification and lust for freedom could not remain suppressed for long time and it got transformed into reality when few leaders like Mr. H P Das of Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta), Mr. B R Tripathi of Ahmedabad, Mr. J L Talwar and Mr. D R Kapoor of Delhi, Mr. M G Desai of Mumbai and Com. H P Saxena of Punjab had taken the initiative to organise their colleagues in the respective centres and decided to form an Association exclusively for the Officers to cater to their needs and requirements.

Then came the august moment of 1964 to see the birth of All India United Commercial Bank Officers' Federation (AIUCBOF) at 8, Amortalla Street, Kolkata. Since then AIUCBOF stands as a symbol of aspiration and ambition of the Officers of the bank. The first President and General Secretary of Federation were Com. H P Saxena of Punjab and Com. H P Das of West Bengal respectively.

First Charter of Demands & Removal of Anomaly

Immediately after its formation, Federation submitted its first charter of demands to the bank demanding (i) Revision of pay scales and better service conditions; (ii) Fair and uniform promotion policy; (iii) Fixation of working hours and (iv) Security of services.

Through persistent efforts of Federation, the pay scales were revised twice in 1966 and 1967 and certain fringe benefits were extended to the Officers.

Federation raised the issue of anomaly arising out of unscientific pay scale revision during 1963-67. The Bank initially turned it down. Subsequently, the management could find logic in Federation's demand and DA of Officers was linked to the cost of living index. There was substantial rise in the total emoluments of Officers from 1st January 1969 and anomalies were also removed to a greater extent.

Efforts for Consolidation & Success

The long cherished dream of bank employees and officers as well as common citizens of the country could see the light of the day when The United Commercial Bank Ltd. along with 13 other major banks was nationalised on 19th July 1969. The bank nationalisation ushered in a new era of development and progress for the nation and defined a changed role of the bank officers and employees. The bank nationalisation acted as a booster to the movement of bank officers and employees.

The year 1970 saw the following significant achievements of the Federation:-

1. Membership from all over India;
2. New State Units of Federation;
3. A comprehensive and scientific Charter of demands and a settlement
4. Bargaining power on behalf of the Officers.

Identity Crisis Continues

Inspite of best efforts rendered by the Federation leadership for a period of over sixteen years or so, the identity crisis of officers continued and problems of officers got aggravated in eighties as workmen led officers' organisations were formed in various States and they were directly pampered by the bank management with a view to destabilising our Federation and throttle the movement of the officers of the bank led by our Federation. Management resorted to blatant violation of various policy guidelines including Transfer and Promotion Policy. Transfer, which affect the life of an officer more than anything else, was effected on pick and choose basis depending on the whims of the bank management. The officers were harassed and punished according to the sweet will of the management.

Struggle Leads to Consolidation & Success

The year 1984 shall always be reckoned as a milestone in the history of Federation. Federation under the leadership of Com. S Roy Choudhury, as General Secretary, organised various organisational action programmes throughout the country to press for some vital demands of the officers. At the call of the Federation officers went on a mass casual leave State-wise, which was a unique programme. By plunging into organisational action officers, all over the country, became united and militant. Federation's mission to consolidate the officers to establish their distinct identity started finding success.

Sun Shines on a Rainy Day

Prolonged organisational action programme including mass casual leave by officers could provide the necessary jerk to the bank management to wake them up from their slumber. They were forced to sit for negotiation on 4th, 5th and 6th June 1984. While there was torrential rain outside and the entire BBD Bagh area was virtually submerged under water, the negotiation met tremendous success and Federation was recognised as the sole bargaining body for the Officer Community of the bank. Many vital issues affecting the service conditions and career progression of officers such as administrative protection to officers against personal threats and intimidation, stoppage of management connivance with workmen in violating norms of discipline, uniform financial and non-financial accountability at all levels of administrative set-up, optimum working condition and proper staffing at branches and administrative offices, non-discrimination in disciplinary matters, declaration of vacancy, removal of anomaly, release of conveyance reimbursement scheme as per IBA guidelines, housing accommodation to all officers etc. were discussed and negotiated. Federation also demanded for immediate framing of Transfer and Placement Policy for officers. Salient features of Transfer Policy were framed on the negotiation table. It was also agreed for the first time that the principal Office Bearers of Federation viz. President, General Secretary, Organising Secretary and Treasurer would be exempted from transfer.

Agitation for Restoration of Pride, Self Respect & Prestige of Officers

Although landmark agreement was signed by the Management with our Federation in June 1984 to formulate various policy guidelines and also to improve working environment at work places, act of gross indiscipline by a section of the employees pampered by the Management did not stop. On 18.6.1986 acid was thrown on Shri C Ramkrishna Rao by some miscreants causing loss of eyesight. Federation resorted to agitation. As a result of which, Shri Rao was allowed full salary till he was fit to resume duty or retired.

In the year 1989 Federation launched countrywide organisational action programme against gross indiscipline, which included use of abusive and filthy language and manhandling of officers at work places vis-à-vis management inaction to curb indiscipline. Federation demanded proper working conditions at workplaces for desired result and output. The agitation continued for about one month and the management was forced to initiate action against delinquent employees. Instructions were issued to Zonal Managers to curb indiscipline including manhandling and use of abusive language. Thereafter, working conditions at work places started improving resulting in restoration of confidence, self-respect and dignity of the officers.

Officers' Rights & Privileges through Consolidation & Agitation

Any Trade Union is recognised and respected due to its striking power. Drive for consolidation and organisational action programmes undertaken by Federation since eighties had resulted in formulation of various bilateral documents thereby improving the service conditions of the Officers to a great extent. Along with framing of various policy guidelines Federation ensured strict observance of the provisions of the policies. Some of the important achievements were framing of Promotion Policy, full-fledged Transfer Policy, Integration of Agricultural Field Officers and Chief Cashiers in the main stream, Removal of anomaly in fitment at regular interval, Selection of Officers under Segment Specialisation, Regular IRMs at apex level as well as Regional level etc.

Welfare Measures for the Officers

In the 4th Biennial Conference of Federation held at Hyderabad from November 28 to 30, 1982, a unique fund named All India United Commercial Bank Officers' Federation Members' Welfare Fund, a rare scheme in the banking industry in those days, was launched to extend various welfare benefits to the officers. Com. M K Ramchandran took main initiative to form the Fund. Com. C R P Haran took up the uphill task for smooth functioning of the Fund since its formation. The said Fund has since been taken over by AIUCBOF Welfare & Benevolent Trust, a Trust promoted by Federation

Officers' Representation on Bank's Board

The decade of seventies is also memorable in the history of Federation as for the first time Com. S D Parelkar, General Secretary of Federation was appointed as Officer Director on Bank's Board on 11th December, 1972 paving the way for representation of Officers in the decision making process of the Bank.

Thereafter, Com. D R Kapoor, President of Federation was appointed as Officer Director on Bank's Board in the year 1978 and continued till 1983.

After retirement of Com. D R Kapoor, the post of Officer Director was lying vacant till 1991.

In the intervening period management of our Bank tried to nominate Officer who was not an office bearer of the Federation. Federation resisted the move of the Bank. Many other Banks tried to do the same. Federation took up the matter with AIBOC and AIBOC filed a case at Supreme Court and ultimately Supreme Court delivered a judgement that only among the three nominated representatives of the majority officers' organisation one can be nominated to the Board as Officer Director.
Thus on 14th November 1991 Com. S Roy Choudhury, General Secretary of Federation was nominated as Officer Director to the Board after long 8 years.

On 18th February 2002 Sri S Roy Choudhury, General Secretary of Federation was re-appointed as Director on the Bank's Board and his tenure was upto 30.11.2003.

On 29th December 1998 Sri Tapan Kakati, Senior Vice-President was appointed as Director on the Bank's Board and remained till 28th December 2001.

Federation & its Confederation

In the 1970 UCO Bank, SBI, Bank of India and some other Banks took initiative to form a Confederation of Bank officer organisations of different Banks and AICOBOO was formed and our representative Com. S D Parelkar became an Office Bearer of AICOBOO. A Subramanian, General Secretary of Federation was also an Office Bearer of AICOBOO.

In 1985 in the Conference of AICOBOO at Chennai, under the leadership of Com. S Roy Choudhury, our Federation delegates protested against the autocratic action of the AICOBOO and inspired by our protest Bank of India Officers Federation, a section of SBI Officers Federation and many other officers organisations protested and came out of the Conference and formed another Confederation under the leadership of Com. R N Godbole & Com. S R Sengupta and Com. S Roy Choudhury.

Formally All India Bank Officers' Confederation i.e. AIBOC was formed on 8th October 1985. From the inception Com. S Roy Choudhury is in the forefront of the Confederation and he held in the Committee as Vice President, Deputy General Secretary and Joint General Secretary and also the president of All India Regional Rural Bank Officers' Federation.

Wage Freeze and formation of UFBU

Govt. Nominee on the Bank's Board mooted approval for wage freeze in the Board meeting held on 31.1.1997. Inspite of stiff opposition from the Officer Director and the workmen Director the proposal was accepted by the Board. Both the representatives jointly protested against this move in writing. At the call of the Federation, all the units sent telegram protesting against this move to E.D who was holding the temporary charge of Chairman. Federation took up the matter with AIBOC and AIBOC contacted all the Central Trade Unions in Calcutta. Federation also contacted all the unions of our Bank and staged a massive demonstration in front of our Bank on 3.2.1997 and the gathering was addressed by all the central leadership of AIBOC, AIBEA, BEFI, AIBOA and others and in a joint deputation to E.D. the action was protested. Subsequently on the next Board meeting i.e. on 19.2.1997 all unions in our Bank sent a joint deputation to the members of the Board and demanded withdrawal of the proposal of Wage Freeze. The Board withdrew their proposal of Wage Freeze. The employees' joint march could resist the ill designed move of the management and the Government.

Although UFBU was formally formed on 13.3.1997 but its actual formation was on 3.2.1997 when all the Central Trade Unions of Public Sector Banks came together to protest against the ill designed move of the Government representative on the Bank.

Strategic Revival Plan & Role of Federation

Bank's health started deteriorating since 1989, which became a matter of concern to all concerned including Federation. It had initiated number of steps to improve the health of the Bank. In the year 1997, a Strategic Revival Plan or SRP was drawn and a MoU was signed between the Bank and its all-participating Unions in presence of the then Hon'ble Union Finance Minister Mr. P Chidambaram. SRP entailed lot of sacrifices on the part of the Bank Officers and employees, mainly the Officers. Federation had taken the lead role in bank's revival programme by way of motivating the Officers to plunge into action to improve the functioning of the bank in various fields such as house-keeping, NPA recovery, deposit mobilisation, deployment of credit etc. The efforts of all including Federation has ultimately paid dividend. Now, Bank's performance in various areas of operation has improved to a considerable extent and Bank has been earning net profit for the last four consecutive years. Moreover, Bank could come out from the 'Weak' stigma labelled on it.

Struggles against Severe Repressive Measurers & Attempts to Split the Head Office

During the period of SRP, Bank Management not only unleashed severe repressive measures on its Officers but was hell bent to split the Head Office in the name of formation of Local Head Offices (LHO) at Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai also. Show-cause memos and charge sheets were served in numbers on Officers throughout the country. Keeping in view the SRP, Federation resorted to a tactical battle. First, it impressed upon the Bank Management to shower down the accountability so that poor branch managers are not punished for whatever omission or commission. Along with organisational action programme Federation, through its Units, was successful to create public opinion, particularly the opinion of those, which matters, against formation of LHO. Federation on account of consolidation, militancy and determination of its members, could fight such a difficult battle virtually alone and ultimately, could emerge victorious.

Struggle in the Post Reforms Era

The officers and employees of the Public Sectors particularly those of Public Sector Banks came under intense attacks from all quarters since 1991 when economy was opened up and reforms in financial sector was launched stage by stage i.e. first generation and second generation reforms. The entire workforce of Public Sector Banks was termed as inefficient and incompetent to face the scenario emerging from stiff competitive market and technology up gradation.

As a sequence to attacks of reforms, Voluntary Retirement Scheme was introduced in the year 2000 in all the Public Sector Banks. UFBU, as the umbrella organisation of the Officers and Workmen of all Public Sector Banks, opposed VRS, as it was an attempt towards de-unionisation. Our Federation could perceive the situation in a very well thought manner as VRS would lead to a clash between organisational ideals and individual aspirations. Attempts to foil VRS failed in all Banks. However, in our Bank, owing to foresight of Federation, relation between the Organisation and VRS optees never became bitter at any point of time as happened in case of many other Banks.

Federation had also comprehended that only consolidation and militancy of its members would not be sufficient to face the intense attacks of reforms. Federation initiated measures to change the mind-set of the Officers.

In his report placed in the 4th Triennial Conference held at Patna in the year 2000 before the Delegate Session Com. S Roy Choudhury, General Secretary, gave a clarion call to the Officer Community of the Bank to

1. Consolidate, both in thought and action.
2. Combat reforms attacks by acquiring efficiency.
3. Improve knowledge base of officers and workforce.
4. Participate in social work thereby bridging the gap between the common mass and us.

Role of Federation in Social Welfare Activities

Keeping in view the importance of social welfare activities Federation has been impressing upon its State Units to form their own social welfare organisation and plunge into social welfare activities with a missionary zeal for the benefit of the downtrodden of the society. Federation has been extending matching contribution from its own fund to those State Units, who have formed their own social welfare organisation and started undertaking social welfare activities.

One Cadre One Union: Dream of Federation

With the formation of Workmen led Officers' Organisation in Public Sector Banks including our bank and pampering of these organisation by the management, the Unity of Officers got disrupted. Looking into the pressing necessity to consolidate the Officer Community under one umbrella to survive honourably under the present day economic scenario, Federation as well as its Units plunged into action towards this direction, efforts of which have paid rich dividends The membership of workmen led Officers' organisation has been came down to 745 in comparison to our strength of 5,354 as on 31.3.2003 and in all the States, affiliated Units of our Federation commands overwhelming majority. The strength of officers vis-à-vis their affiliation as on 31.3.2003 is given hereunder.

All 180 Direct Members in Scale IV and above belong to our Federation and none to AIBOA.

Although Federation's cherished dream of 'One Cadre One Union' is yet to blossom in full, but the officers all over the country irrespective of any caste, creed or political affiliation are united as Officer Community under the banner of Federation. The search for identity that commenced in 1964 has now matured into a reality. Inspite of having many problems and constraints having much wider ramification in the present day context, the Officers of UCO Bank are surviving honourably with their heads high and their aspiration, ambition and destiny being decided by their own Federation.

Saga of Sacrifices

Organisation and individuals are complimentary to each other. As the contribution of an organisation is immeasurable in the life of the individuals related to it, the contribution of individuals is also immense in the role-play of the organisation. But, in the process, some individuals contribute, sacrifice and ultimately emerge giants among all for the prosperity and the development of the organisation. Federation always acknowledges with gratitude the contribution of all members irrespective of their position in the organisational hierarchy.

Names of Presidents and General Secretaries of Federation since inception mentioned below:

H P Saxena Founder President	Haripada Das Founder General Secretary	M G Desai Founder Member & Former President	J L Talwar Founder Member & Former President
S N Ghosal Former President & General Secretary	B R Tripathy Founder Member	D R Kapoor Founder Member & Former President	S D Parelkar Former General Secretary
A Subramaniun Former General Secretary	R S Chanana Former Acting President	K Seshadri Former President	M K Ramchandran Former President
S A Desai Former President	S C Shah Former Vice-President	K L Khanna Former Senior Vice-President	H S Makol Former Senior Vice-President
D P Rao Former Senior Vice-President	Tapan Kakati Former Senior Vice-President	R C Khanna Present President	S Roy Choudhury Present General Secretary

Important Events & Achievements in the History of Federation

1. In 1983 Federation signed a Promotion Policy having two channel of promotion viz.
   i) Seniority Channel     ii) Merit Channel.
2. Agitation in the year 1984 including mass casual leave for officers' rights and privileges.
3. On 19th August 1987 full fledged Transfer Policy was framed and Representative of Management and Federation signed the Policy and it is history in the Banking industry that explicit Transfer Policy was framed for movement of officers from one place to another.
4. Agitation in 1989 to restore officers' prestige and self-respect.
5. In 1993 Transfer Policy was further amended and Transfer on promotion was introduced. The basis of transfer from average longest stay to longest continuous stay was introduced.
6. In 1995 an agreement was reached between management and our Federation that union  functionaries will be allowed exemption to the extent of 0.5% of membership.
7. In 1999 in the name of forming LHO at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Lucknow & Kolkata tried to dislodge Head office from Kolkata. Federation went on agitation to stall the decision of Management and ultimately Management was forced to withdraw their decision.
8. In the year 2000 promotion policy was further amended with a clause that group discussion was  introduced for promotion from Scale-III to Scale-IV and ScaleIV to Scale V which is unique in the industry.
9. In 2002 Promotion Policy was further amended 20% vacancy was reserved for Senior Officers in Scale-I to ensure at least one promotion in life-time.
10. Leased accommodation linked with D.A. unique in the Industry.
11. Defence Councel Training Programmes organised from time to time covering its State Units.
12. Leadership Development Programme organised from time to time covering its State Units.
13. Formation of AIUCBOF-Welfare Fund in 1983.
14. Back dating of Seniority (196).
15. CAIIB increments to the officers promoted from clerical cadre in 1987.
16. Integration of Chief Cashiers to the main stream.
17. Integration of AFO with the main stream.
18. Merger of accounts and cash department in the year 2001.
19. Publication of books from time to time to guide the officers.
20. Counting of seniority from the temporary period of service.
21. Training Programmes in HRD/CREDIT/IT to leaders.
22. Grant of Rs.5/- per month per member to each State Units having their own NGO for social activities.
23. Relief amount donated to West Bengal/Orissa/Gujarat Governments.
24. Resistance to ARC and Public Issues.
25. General Council formed in 2000 envisaging a new approach to meet the requirement arising from Bank's restructuring of its administrative set-up.
26. Federation signed agreement with the bank to introduce Segment Specialisation in the fields of IT, Credit, Foreign Exchange, Treasury & Investment, Merchant Banking and HRD.
27. Introduction of Holiday Home Thrift Society, Social Welfare organisation in State Units.
28. Publication of Manual for Growth-I to ensure safeguard of officers against aggressive mid-market segment lending.
29. Representation in Bank's Audit Committee/Management Committee.

Symbol of our Federation

The big circle denotes the correlation of officers' interest irrespective of different caste, creed & category.

The Human figures denote representation of 19 state units. Their feet are stepped unitedly within the levelled line of struggle.

The small circle denotes unification of all officers and struggle. Unity and struggle is the symbol of AIUCBOF.