CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION of SBISA (1919-2020) Press Coferance held at Conference Hall

satyajit chakraborty khabor 24 : Centennial Celebration of SBISA (1920-2020) 10th Triennial General Council Meeting of SBISA ( Bengal Circle) a press conference at newly Hall There are present Sanjeev K. Bandish, General Secretary, AISBISF, Rajesh TripathyChief Secretary of SBISA.
and Siddhartha Khan, S. P. Behera, Animesh Chaterjee State Bank of India Staff Association, comprising of 8 Circles and geographically spreading over a wide region from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the south to Arunachal Pradesh in north-east, Ladakh in
the north and the deserts of Rajasthan in the west is a unique apolitical organisation which boasts of
being the oldest Banking organisation in Asia. It has morphed from Imperial Bank of India Indian Staff
Association which as the pioneer of its kind in the entire financial sector in India was registered under
Benevolent Society’s Act on the 9th July,1920 even before the enactment of Trade Union Act,1926 at a
time when under the shackles of the British rule it was unthinkable to organise such a powerful and
vigilant Trade Union in Indian Banking Sector. Our mighty organisation is going to complete its 100 years
in 2020. Last 99 years of SBISA is a saga of uncompromising battles, countless sacrifices and
momentous victories which besides ensuring remarkable improvement in material working and living
condition of SBI employees, has contributed a lot in the Indian Working Class movements, especially in
financial sector- be it in the recent fight for the withdrawal of FRDI Bill,2017 or against bank-merger or
privatisation of nationalised sector. It has generated a wide-spread consciousness among its members to
identify themselves with the strife and sufferings of the entire Banking community rising above all narrow
confines of caste, creed, province, religion and language and always given a clarion call to its members to
fight against all oppression, exploitation and injustice to the working class. It has got its apex body as the
All India SBI Staff Federation at the Bank level and National Confederation of Bank Employees at the
Industry level. The Union proudly boasts of its hoary heritage of glorious battles, innumerable struggles
and sacrifices made by its illustrious predecessors like Shri Mrinal Kanti Bose, Shri Nalinakshya Sanyal,
Shri Debabrata Ghosa, Shri Soumendra Nath Tagore, Dr. Meghnad Saha, Dr. Shyama Prasad
Mukhopadhyay, Shri Ajit Krishna Sen, Shri Mohan Lal Majumder and so on. The charisma of the Union
has always been strengthened by the innate cohesive strength of its members’ unity and solidarity that
enabled it to achieve numerous benefits for the members through sustained struggles and Bilateral
Settlements and also by virtue of its sheer bargaining capacity. The Historic Strike of 1946 for 46 days in
which British police resorted to indiscriminate baton charge to remove pickets from the gates of the Head
Office of the Imperial Bank of India at Strand Road and arrested 2 strikers and post-independence 21
days’ continuous Strike in 1960 which was declared illegal by the Government speak of the sheer
courage, grit, determination, dedication and sacrifice of the forerunners. Assuming the mantle of their
predecessors the later leaders too carried on uncompromising struggles against the management and the
Govt. to alleviate the working condition of the employees and fight against oppression, exploitation and
injustice against the working masses. As a torch- bearer of Trade Union movement, the role and function
of our Union is vibrant, vivacious, vigil transparent, assuming and supportive so that the vast body of its
membership can always remain conscious, militant and spear-heading.
The inaugural ceremony to celebrate the CENTENERY of our mighty organisation will be organised