KARUR VYSYA BANK EMPLOYEES' UNION(Affiliated to AIBEA)

Plot "E", New No : 44, Old No: 33B, 8th Street, Sourashtra Nagar,Choolaimedu, Chennai - 600 094, Tamil Nadu.

Phone: 044-24837383 E-Mail: kvbeu1959 @gmail.com

(Regd. No. 2756)

President : Ph : 044 - 22235378 / 9003097740 General Secretary : Ph: 04324 - 220956 / 9003097744

Dear Comrades,

COM. P. VISWANATHAN, OUR UNION PREISDENT RETIRES FROM THE

SERVICES OF THE BANK ON 28th FEBRUARY 2019

Comrade Padmanabhan Viswanathan (P.Viswanathan) our beloved President is retiring from

the services of the Bank on superannuation on 28th February 2019 after putting 41 years of

services in our institution KVB and also leading our KVBEU as President for more than 8

years.

Born to Sri.T.H.Padmanabhan and Smt.P.Sumathi, Com.Viswanathan had his school

education in Chennai. Despite his parents wish to continue education, he realised the need

and necessity to support his family financially to get his two sisters married and hence,

discontinued his education after passing S.S.L.C. and searched for a suitable job. He joined

our institution KVB as a Casual Labour in June 1977. At that time his per day wage was Rs.8/-.

After completing 240 days, he was absorbed as Temporary Sub-staff in 1978 and thus

commenced his journey in KVB.

Right from the entry into our Bank, Com.Viswanathan had become an activist of our Union.

The reason is Com.Viswanathan's father late Sri.Padmanabhan, was Secretary of the Union

in Reserve Bank of India, Chennai affiliated to AIBEA. Through this, Com.Viswanathan had

the opportunity of meeting and interacting with veteran leaders of Reserve Bank of India

Workers Union viz. Com.Parthasarathy, former President of TNBEF, Com.A.Natarajan,

Circular No.: 35-38/27/2019 18-02-2019

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Com.W.R.Varadharajan and also the then Trade Union leaders. Through his father, Com

Viswanathan also had the opportunity of meeting Com.Parvana, the doyen of the bank

employees movement and former Secretary of AIBEA, who was the leader of RBI Workers

Union. During his school holidays, Com Viswanathan used to go along with his father to the

meetings and also to meet the leaders. Also the leaders were very close to the family

members.This had created an indelible mark in his young mind to work for the cause of the

people around us. Till his father's death, he used to discuss with his father about the trade

union movement and the issues concerning the working class. Com Viswanathan recalls that

his father used to tell him that the Pension he received every month has established

confidence even after retirement and also the days when the union meetings were held in

open place with lanthar lights.

Even while working as Sub-staff in various branches in Chennai city, he pursued his

graduation course and completed B.Com degree. Being a graduate Sub-staff, he was

promoted as Clerk in September 1984 and posted at Perungalathur branch, a rural centre in

Tiruvannamalai District.

Though he actively participated in the union activities, only after a decade of joining in the

services of the Bank, he became the Zonal Secretary of Chennai area in the year 1989. In

the year 2000 in our 30th Conference held at Madurai, he became the Asst. Secretary of our

union. In our 31st conference held at Bangalore in the year 2004, he became the Organising

Secretary. In our 32nd conference held at Chennai in the year 2007, he was elevated to the

position of Joint Secretary.

In the 33nd conference of our union held at Salem in October '2010, the Office Bearers were

elected by the members through democratic election process. Com.P. Viswanathan led the

team and all the Office Bearers in the panel had emerged victorious. Com.Viswanathan was

elected as President of the Union. He is a firm believer that in trade union there are no victors

or losers. All have come to the trade union movement to work for the welfare of the

members and Organisation is only supreme and not the individuals. He along with our

former General Secretary Com.N.S. Sridhar and other Office Bearers saw that all the

differences then emerged were discussed and resolved. Now the Union functions as a

cohesive unit.

During his tenure with the support and co-operation of fellow office bearers, executive

members and other members, we could able to achieve many benefits for our members.

During official negotiations and informal discussions, his way of presentation of issues of the

members is widely appreciated by the Bank Executives.

Another important event that took place during the tenure of Com.Viswanathan as President

is the construction of our own union building in Chennai. After the shifting of union

headquarters from Bangalore to Chennai, the Executive Committee had decided to have our

own building at Chennai by disposing the building at Bangalore. With the overwhelming

support and contribution received from our members, the building was inaugurated during

our 34th conference held at Chennai in April 2014.

Even while he was holding the position of Executive Committee Member in the Union, the

leadership at that time had entrusted him with the task of defending our employees in the

domestic enquiries. He developed special passion in the area of defending the employees in

the enquiry forum. He played effective role as Defence Representative in many cases and

this has helped the employees. In some cases, where the punishment of dismissal was

awarded, the matter was referred to Labour Court. Due to the effective argument placed by

Com.Viswanathanr in the enquiry forum, union could win the cases in the Labour Court. The

emerging Defence Representatives in our Union have to take this as example and take self-

interest in acquiring knowledge in the area of domestic enquiry.

Apart from defending the employees in the enquiry forum, Com.Viswanathan also effectively

presented various cases before the Labour Commissioner. In addition to this, he used to

assist our advocate to present our case in the Labour Court.

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In Tamilnadu Bank Employees' Federation (TNBEF) he is holding the position of Central

Committee Member. In the recently concluded 23rd Conference of our TNBEF at Chennai

when the offer was made to him to become the Joint Secretary of TNBEF representing

KVBEU, he declined the offer stating his retirement and requested the leadership of TNBEF to

offer that post to the General Secretary of KVBEU. This good quality has to be emulated by

us.

His position in the base union was recognized by the TNBEF and he was nominated as General

Council Member of AIBEA in the conference held in Chennai in January 2017.

In the All India Private Sector Bank Unions' Cell (AIBEA), he is holding the position of

Convenor. Being the Convenor, he had the opportunity of meeting and interacting with the

union leaders of various banks and attends all their conferences, which enabled him to

understand the situation prevailing in old and new generation private sector banks. In all the

meetings / conferences of the above Organisations, he used to effectively put forth the view

points of our union.

Com.Viswanathan always derived pleasure in identifying himself with the cadres. In all the

meetings, conferences etc., we can see him in displaying the festoons, banners, pasting the

posters etc. This had great influence on the cadres to involve themselves in the trade union

movement. He is a powerful orator and a voracious reader. He is thorough in bi-partite

settlements and our internal settlements. He shows keen interest in analysing the evolution

of the Bipartite settlements and also in legal matters. Even though being the principal office

bearer of the union, he will patiently hear the views of all the office bearers and committee

members and will subject himself to the collective functioning. Com Viswanathan as

President always commences and concludes the Executive Committee meetings as

scheduled and also ensures deliberation of every Executive Committee Member in the

meeting.

Com.Viswanathan after assuming the Post of President had extensively toured almost all the

branches of our Bank across the country. During the visit to the branches along with other

union functionaries, he will not only meet the members but also will have interaction with the

officers as well as the Branch Heads. These type of visit to the branches had helped the

members to come closer to the Union especially in the upcountry centres.

Today we live in a tech savvy world and social media plays a very important role in

propagating various news, events, opinions etc. Our President is very active in the usage of

social media viz. Facebook, Whatsapp etc. Through this social media, he continuously posts

not only union related news, messages etc., but also various banking related news, socio

economic issues etc.

Com.Viswanathan, being the union functionary had many times faced the wrath of the

management. He was transferred to various branches and all these transfers were because

of his trade union activities. In fact only after becoming President of our Union in the year

2010, he was retransferred to Chennai city.Till such time he was in Ullavoor Branch near

Kancheepuram. These transfers did not deter his trade union activities and rather it made

him strong. Young trade union activists have to take this as an example in their onward

march.

Com.Viswanathan is basically an organizational man. He is of the firm opinion that union is

not built by the leaders of the movement rather by the cadres, who are the backbone of the

union. He always gives special focus on Branches Secretaries as they are the connecting link

between the union at the apex level to the members at the grass root level.

Com.Viswanathan is serving as Vice-President in our KVB Staff Co-operative Thrift and

Credit Society Limited. Even before assuming the post of Director in the Society, he played

his role along with our leaders Com.JR, Com.M.Divakaran, Com.M. Seshadri, Com.N.S.

Sridhar, Com.A. Srinivasan in the establishment of own premises for our Society. At the time

of inauguration of new premises for our Society, a Commemorative Souvenir was released.

Com.Viswanathan was the Asst. Convenor of the Souvenir Committee. As the Asst

.Convenor, he meticulously collected various details and successfully brought out the

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Souvenir with due support of Com.M. Divakaran, Convenor and other members of the

Souvenir Committee.

Com.Viswanathan never restricted himself to the bank employees movement. His

determination, conviction and commitment to the common cause prompted him to embrace

the leftist political ideology. This made him to analyse all the issues in working class

perspective. Apart from his regular trade union activities, he is actively involved in various

social activities and had participated in various Seminars and Workshops. He has delivered

speech in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi in the seminar on New Forms of Urban

Governance and also in Anna University, Guindy on Linking Water bodies in Chennai.

Com Viswanathan used to admire the dedication and commitment of late Com.N.Sampath,

veteran bank employees union leader and former President of TNBEF and also derived

inspiration from Com.C.H.Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA. He also used to say

that he had inherited the required leadership qualities from our leaders Com.S. Narahari,

Com.M. Sundararajan, Com.A. Mayakrishnan, Com J.Rajendran, Com V.Krishnamurthy, late

Com.N.Arunachalam, Com.N.Kalyanasundarm and Com M.Divakaran. According to him,

these leaders have not only read the pulse of the comrades but also carried out necessary

rectifications wherever required and steered our Union to greater heights.

Married to Smt.Vatsala, Com.Viswanathan is blessed with two daughters. Daughters are

employed, the elder daughter is married and the second daughter is yet to be married. At this

juncture, we thank Smt.Vatsala and his daughters for extending their fullest support and co-

operation which enabled him to function successfully as President of our Union.

Comrades, our leader is retiring from the services of the Bank on 28th February 2019. Many

Kayveebians who joined in the Bank along with him have become Senior Managers /

Executives in our Bank. Our leader instead of choosing the path of career advancement had

chosen the trade union path and dedicated his entire banking service for the welfare of the

members of KVBEU and steered the organization to greater heights. Com.Viswanathan who

joined as a Casual Labour in our Bank had risen to the highest level in our Union through his

sheer dedication and hard work and also his unflinching commitment towards the working

class ideology. Com Viswanathan, in all meetings used to highlight the importance of our

Bank's growth and maintaining its identity, Extending Best Customer Service and Equally

Defending the Rights and to improve our Service Conditions. Today many youngsters have

joined our bank and these are the message they have to inherit from this comrade. He is

retiring only from the services of the bank and not from the heart of our members. We are

sure and confident that his guidance and support will always be there for KVBEU in its onward

march.

Comrades, it is our practice to organize a farewell function for any union functionary who

retires from the services of the bank as a mark of our love and affection towards them. When

the request was made to him for arranging the farewell function, our leader

Com.Viswanathan had gently declined our request by stating that it is only the collective

efforts of all and with the due support of the members our union he has risen to this level and

achieved benefits to the members and as an individual his role is nothing in the union other

than implementing the decisions taken collectively. For him Organisation is primary and

supreme and not the individuals. Union respects his views and sentiments.

On behalf of the members of KVBEU, we wish Com.P. Viswanathan a happy and healthy

retired life. We also wish him to continue his services for the working class movement of this

country.

With greetings,

Yours comradely,

I.VENKATESAN

GENERAL SECRETARY