Employees' Union Of State-Run Insurers Threatens To Go On Strike On January 4 Against Proposed Restructuring Of Public Insurers

The Joint Forum of Trade Unions (JFTU) of general insurance companies alleged that the proposed restructuring would weaken the public sector entities

The JFTU said that in the last couple of years about 1,000 offices, mostly in Tier II and Tier III cities, have already been closed.

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A section of employees of public sector general insurance companies has given a call to go on strike on January 4 against the proposed restructuring in the state-run insurers, the PTI reported on Friday. The Joint Forum of Trade Unions (JFTU) of general insurance companies alleged that the proposed restructuring would weaken the public sector entities.

The proposed restructuring involves the closure and merger of offices, including profitable offices, and imposition of Key Performance Indicator (KPI), the JFTU said in a statement.

The JFTU said that in the last couple of years about 1,000 offices, mostly in tier-II and tier-III cities, have already been closed.

This unilaterally forcing massive closures and mergers of hundreds of offices in public sector general insurance companies (PSGIC) are not only affecting the policyholders but the citizens at large, it said, adding that it is also giving undue favour to private insurance companies to capture the market in Tier II and III cities.

Four insurers, National Insurance Company Ltd, Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, New India Assurance Company Ltd, United India Insurance Company Ltd, and GIC Re, having around 50,000 employees and officers are forced to observe a one-day strike on January 4, it said.

"We learnt that Joint Secretary Saurabh Mishra has been pressuring the board of the National Insurance as per his whims and fancies and also pressurised the board for recruiting a Chief Technical Officer in the past to favour his near and dear for a huge package," it alleged.

The Centre has proposed to amend various provisions of the Insurance Act 1938 and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act 1999.

According to a senior official if the insurance industry, “Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier announced that in the case of strategic sectors, there can be four public sector units and in the case of non-strategic sectors, there will be only one government owned unit.”

Meanwhile, the Chief Labour Commissioner has called a conciliation meeting on January 2 to resolve the issue and avoid the strike.