Union Bank Pensioners/Retirees UBIREMAS -Union Bank of India Retired Employees Medical Assistance Scheme (Bank Circular) Attention is invited to original staff circular no:4901 dated 04.10.2002 on the abovementioned subject and subsequent Staff circular no:56oidated 30.07.2009 and Staff circular no:5913 dated 11.10.2012 and Staff circular no.6006 dated 14.08.20.13. Keeping in view the reqr~ests being received from retired employees who could not join the scheme within prescribed time limit, it has been decided to give one more option to such retirees in the meeting of Staff welfare committee. Hecordingly, the scheme is hereby reopened .from 16.01.2~15 to 31.03.2015 for those retired employees who could not opted for membership earlier. As informed in Staff circular no:5913 dated 11.10.2012 for administrative convenience and speedy disposal of membership application, the scheme is now integrated in Unior~ Parivar. The salient features of the revised procedure for application for membersl-lip & reimbursement are as under: Application for membership has been niade online through Union Parivar, no cheque or demand draft is acceptable for membership fees Retired employees who opt to become membci have to remit the fee directly to the account of the REMAS scheme (378902050000188) and note the transaction id for Filling up the same in online application. For details please refer annexure - I. Processing of reimbursement for hospitalization & annual health check- up is made online in Union Parivar. For details please refer annexure -11 After sanctioning the reimbursement sha,ll be directly credited to the account of the retired employee through auto credit process as is being done for other staff welfare schemes. All concerned are informed that as the scheme is incorporated in Union Parivar, issuing of REMAS merr~bership card is discon1:inued Now the membership number generated in Union Parivar will be sufficient for future reference. , . All other ternis and conditions as specified in Staff circular 4901 dated 04.10.2002 except the operational aspects as mentioned in the annexure remain unchanged. All branches/ offices are required to bring the contents of the circular to the notice of all concerned especially retired employees who had earlier not applied for membership. Kindly note that there shall not be any further extension in the .time period for applying under the scheme. As this is a staff welfare - measure, it is our endeavor that all eligible retirees become members of the scheme and avail the benefit. All branches /offices are advised to display this circular on the rlotice board of the branchloffice and propagate this information among retired employees. ***************************************************** All India Union Bank Employees Union Sub : Out come of Staff Welfare Committee Meeting. The Staff Welfare Committee of the Bank met on 18th December 2014 at Mumbai to review the existing welfare schemes and decide further course of action. The meeting was chaired by our Executive Director Shri K. Subrahmaniam. On our behalf Com A. Chidambaram Organising Secretary and the undersigned attended the meeting. The outcome of the Meeting is as under: The committee reviewed the utilization level of all the schemes against the allocation made. It is observed that the total expenditure on all the schemes amounted to Rs 26.75 cr for the year ended 2014 against the Staff Welfare allocation of Rs 25 Cr. Even in the past also, the Bank has spent more than the allocation and the actual expenditure up to Nov 2014 also shows continuance of such trend for the year 2014-15. We have in all, 21 schemes under staff welfare measures. While for the year 2013-14 the canteen subsidy scheme consumed 7.60 Cr, the scheme on ex-gratia on hospitalization expenses consumed Rs4.76 Cr,. Thus nearly 50% of total permissible Staff Welfare allocation of Rs 25 Cr is consumed in 2 schemes. The other major schemes with their utilization level are as under: -Reimbursement of expenses for medical Check up Rs 1.35 Cr - Medical Clinics at RO/ ZO Rs 1.57 Cr - UBIREMAS & Medical Check up for Retirees Rs 2.86 Cr -Reimbursement of School Fees Rs 1.62 Cr. In view of the total expenditure exceeding the permissible ceiling of Rs 25 Cr improvements in existing schemes or introduction of new scheme is not feasible and possible. Despite our repeated requests Bank has expressed its inability to increase the allocation in view of government directions. Hence, during the course of discussion, we requested the Bank to account the expenditure under 1) Scheme of Ex-gratia pension to Pre1986 retirees and 2) Farewell Scheme for retiring employees in the Bank’s Books instead of Staff Welfare allocation since both the schemes are the exemplary initiatives of the Bank that exhibit the caring and appreciative gestures of the Bank. This will enable the Staff Welfare Committee to have some leverage to try for little possible improvements. The Bank management agreed to positively review our request and after knowing the management’s decision, necessary steps will be initiated to decide fresh allocations to decide improvements. The meeting also noted that there is an under utilization of amount allotted to health care schemes for retirees’. Hence after thorough discussions it was decided to improve the schemes for retirees as under: 1) Increase the reimbursement of pathological Diagnostic tests from present Rs 1000 to Rs 2000 per year. . 2) One more option will be extended to retirees/ spouses of retirees who have not opted to opt for UBIREMAS and such option will be for a period of 3 months to end on 31st March 2015. 3) Employees retired under VRS 2001will be permitted to avail the facility of the Bank’s clinic and Bank’s holiday homes like other retired/ VRS employees. 4) The reimbursement rate for claims under UBIREMAS is upwardly revised to enable all the employees and officers up to Scale 3 to have uniform reimbursement. . 5) The committee agreed in principle to frame insurance linked hospitalization reimbursement scheme for retirees to replace UBIREMAS and directed to explore the availability of competitive scheme suiting to our needs. The meeting also decided to explore the possibility of having Holiday Home at Shimla, Mysore/ Coorg & Somnath / Dwarka. The Staff Welfare Committee while deciding on the agenda of individual cases seeking assistance over and above the ex-gratia towards medical expenses incurred by them, suggested to define certain specific & vital parameters to avoid subjectivity & decide such cases on merits. It also decided to positively explore the possibility of setting a transit Camp at Dehradun. Management’s circular will be issued shortly. N.SHANKAR GENERAL SECRETARY
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 03:39:41 +0000