LIC employees in Ballari stage walk out demanding recruitment

Under the banner of All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA), employees of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India symbolically walked out for an hour to press for their demand for recruitment of manpower, especially Class III and Class IV cadres, in Ballari recently.

Under the banner of All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA), employees of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India symbolically walked out for an hour to press for their demand for recruitment of manpower, especially Class III and Class IV cadres, in Ballari recently.

The employees expressed apprehensions that the Union government’s moves were discouraging for public sector units (PSU) such as LIC. “The number of Class III and Class IV employees has gone down from 57,441 in March 2017 to 45,762 in March 2024. Out of 8,000 Class II vacancies notified in 2020, more than 2,700 were not filled. Rather than addressing the issue by filling the vacancies, the government is making attempts to fill the gaps by outsourcing. With many exits due in the next couple of years, there is an urgent need for recruitment to keep up with the soaring customer expectations and retain our pre-eminent position as the insurer of choice. The fast depletion in staff strength is becoming the biggest stumbling block on the way to realising our avowed objective,” Suryanarayan, LIC employees union leader, said during the agitation.

They said that the shortage of staff was mounting pressure on the existing staff in LIC not only affecting the performance of the company but also impacting the health of the employees.

“It is unfortunate that the LIC leadership is refusing to accept the democratic aspirations of the employees violating the very concept of industrial democracy. The refusal violates the Conventions of 87 and 98 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to which India is a signatory. LIC is the only financial institution in the public sector without having a recognised union even though it has the largest unionised workforce. We demand the management to initiate the process of recognition of AIIEA, which commands the support of over 80% of the workforce in LIC,” said Dattatreya, another labour leader.