11th Death Anniversary of our beloved leaderCom. N. Sampath

11th Death Anniversary
of our beloved leader
Com. N. Sampath
( 26-3-1926 – 20-11-2014 )
Former President/Secretary, AIBEA
Former General Secretary/President,
Tamilnadu Bank Emp Federation
Former President,
Federation of Bank of India Staff Unions
AIBEA has produced many stalwart leaders in the process of its struggles and movement. Com. N Sampath was one amongst them.He rose to the position of leading AIBEA as its President.Born on 26-3-1926 in a very orthodox middle class family, Com.
Sampath had his school education in Ramakrishna Mission High School in T. Nagar and later completed his B.A. from Loyola College, Chennai. In his younger days, Com. Sampath was a cricket player and in fact he played for his school team for which Mr. N Vaghul
(who later became the Chairman of Bank of India and IBA) was the Captain. Com. Sampath joined Bank of India in Chennai in 1946, the year in which AIBEA was founded. Though he had taken the job for his livelihood and to make a career, the pathetic working conditions of the bank employees in those days agitated his young mind and it took no time for him to realise that trade union is the only way to ameliorate their conditions. Soon he was in the company of few daring youngsters who decided that a trade union should be formed. Thus he was associated with the formation of the union in Bank of India in Chennai in 1951 and was one of its founder leaders along with leaders like Com. D. Natarajan. He continued as the leader of this Union for 63 long continuous years and at the time of his death, he was the Hon. President of this Union. In Bank of India, he also took initiative in the formation of All India Federation of Bank of India Staff Unions along with other senior leaders like Com Sushil Ghosh, Com K J Joseph, Com. N.S Purao, Com Chitnis, etc. and was its leading figure for many years. He rose to the position of President of the Tamilnadu bank employees Federation. He was also the Workman Director in Bank of India from 1979 till 1986 when he retired from the Bank. Com. Sampath also started to feel that it is difficult to fight unless we have unions in all the Banks. Hence he was involved in the task of forming Unions in other Banks and bringing all bank unions in Tamilnadu under a common umbrella under the banner of AIBEA and was thus part of the formation and foundation of TNBEF (known as Madras Provincial Bank Employees Union in those days)
in June 1953.
Very soon he became the accredited leader of the Federation and
from 1958 onwards he was being continuously elected as the
General Secretary of TNBEF in all the Conferences. In those days,
TNBEF was a star-studded organisation with galaxy of senior
leaders as Office Bearers. Along with Com C.S. Subramaniam of
Canara Bank Employees Union, Com. M S Dawood, Com R
Parthasarathy, Com. V K Krishnamurthi, Com. Rm Vellayan, Com. U
P Shet and many such senior leaders, he built up TNBEF as a very
strong, militant, vibrant and disciplined battalion under the banner
of AIBEA.
He traversed beyond the Bank wise unions and built up strong
unions in various Districts and towns in the State of Tamilnadu.
Today, we have an effective network of units in all the Districts and
Towns due to which all the programmes of the organisation are
successfully undertaken. If there was any let up in the activities of
any District, he would personally go to such centres and re-activate
the comrades.
He always took special care to nurture and nourish small and weak
units so that members of these unions are protected from any
possible attack from the management. He was himself the
President of unions in Oriental Bank of Commerce, New Bank of
India, State Bank of Indore, etc.
3
In a pioneering endeavour, keeping the future needs of the
organisation in mind, from 1985 itself he started inducting young
cadres in the leadership of the Federation. That is how comrades
like C H Venkatachalam and Kamaluddin Surany were elected as
Offcie Bearers and later many young comrades like E Arunachalam,
R Vijayakumar, V Raghuraman, K Vijhayan, Michaelraj Joseph,
Deviprasad, L R Gopalakrishnan, etc. were brought to the
leadership team.
In 1994, he voluntarily opted to become the President to enable
younger leadership to emerge and again in 2010 he chose to
become the Chairman of TNBEF.
Today, one can understand and applaud the far-sightedness and
vision of Com Sampath in taking these initiatives.
He did not confine himself to organising the commercial bank
employees. His eyes were also set on the Co-op. Bank employees
who were in those days virtually treated as slaves and did not enjoy
any trade union rights. He ordained Com. C S Subramaniam to look
after the Co-op. banks and by their devoted attention, today, we
have very strong trade unions in the Co-op. Banks in Tamilnadu. He
was the President of Tamilnadu Co-op. Bank Employees Association
from inception and led their struggles from the front. Because of
his sustained and personal attention, TNBCEA has developed into a
strong organisation due to which we have the pride of having the
headquarters of All India Co-op. Bank Employees Federation in
Chennai with Com. P Balakrishnan as its General Secretary since
inception.
Similarly Com. Sampath also realised long ago that given the
increasing number of women employees in the Banks, our Unions
must create adequate space for them to work in the unions and
they must get some platform to discuss their problems. Thus he
4
was a forerunner in giving importance to the women employees in
the organisation and organised and set up a Women’s Wing under
TNBEF even before a formal decision was taken at AIBEA level in
this regard.
In the same way, when he observed that of late many of our units
were handicapped for want of adequate knowledge on legal-
oriented problems, looking to the need to guide our units with
proper advisory, he had set up an exclusive Legal Wing under
TNBEF drawing experts like Com V S Ekambaram, Com V S
Balasubramaniam, Com. Michaelraj Joseph and such other
comrades and ensured that our unions do not suffer on account of
insufficient knowledge to deal with legal issues.
In the earlier days, in Chennai city, banking operations were
confined mainly in the George Town area and most of the bank
branches were located in that area and mobilising employees for
programmes was easier. But with advent of nationalisation and
branch expansion, bank branches were getting opened in many
parts of the city and employees were working in different parts of
the city. During the struggle for 3rd BPS in 1978-79, he understood
that mobilising all these employees in one place for rallies,
demonstrations, etc. would be difficult and hence he took the
initiative to set up Madras City Implementation Committee.
Through this Committee, he devised programmes in various parts
of the city and ensured that employees participate in the struggle
programmes in large number with greater convenience.
In another commendable initiative, even as long back as 1977,
looking to the burgeoning young employees in the banks and the
need to bring them at the altar of mainstream trade union, he
launched Parvana Youth League under TNBEF with a view to draw
young cadres and this proved very useful in spotting active cadres
for the unions in various Banks.
5
Being a sports-loving person himself, he always organised sports
activities on various occasions like Silver jubilee, Golden Jubilee,
Diamond Jubilee, etc. but his main intentions were to draw as
many sections of members close to the union as was possible.
He also encouraged the formation of a Music Choir for TNEBF to
utilise the musical talents of the members.
In a novel idea, with a view to help the women employees working
in the various Banks, he started a Creche under the banner of
TNEBF to take care of the children of the women employees and
this was very popular step and received wide appreciation.
Com. Sampath was also very particular about sharing of knowledge
and information to units and cadres. He launched the TNBEF’s
monthly Bulletin “TNBEF HERALAD” and was its editor since the last
three decades. He personally wrote the editorial every month and
ensured the magazine is published without any interruption.
Having regard to the need for communications in the local
language, he started the monthly Tamil Bulletin “Seidhi Malai” for
the benefit of our units.
With his vast and authentic knowledge on the service conditions of
bank employees and the provisions of various Settlements, he
authored “Journey So far”, the Book that contains all the updated
details of the Awards and Settlements right from the beginning and
in every union office we can find that the book is being used as a
Ready Reckoner. This Book has been very popular amongst the
Bank managements also as a one-stop reference book. The
popularity and usefulness of the Book can be gauged from the fact
that it has seen 8 Editions so far.
6
He also authored a Booklet called “Triumphant March” detailing
the date wise struggles and important events from the year 1946
for the benefit of our leaders and units.
Under his guidance and initiatives, TNBEF brought out very
important publications like ‘Legal Guide to Defence’, ‘A Peep into
Labour Laws’ and ‘A Hand book on Defence’ for the benefit of the
units and those office bearers who are dealing with defence of
employees in disciplinary action cases.
To perpetuate the memory of his Comrade-in-arm Com. C.S.
Subramaniam, the dashing leader of the bank employees in
Tamilnadu, he took initiative to create a Memorial Endowment in
association with D.G. Vaishnava College in Chennai. Such was his
affection and intimacy with Com. C.S.
Com Sampath was not only well-known within the compound of
our organisation. With a view to recognise the decades of yeomen
services rendered by Com. Sampath to the bank employees as its
leader, the Department of Commerce of the Loyola College,
Chennai has instituted a Rolling Trophy in the name of Com.
Sampath so as to remember and perpetuate his memory as an old
student of the College.
As the organisation expanded and membership swelled post-
nationalisation, he realised that our unions would require more
and more cadres to run the unions and hence the unions have to be
equipped with knowledge-based cadres. By way of perpetuating
the memory of Com. C S Subramaniam after his death, in 1983 he
launched the CS Memorial Foundation under which periodical trade
union classes were conducted and it goes to the credit of Com
Sampath that hundreds of young comrades were graduated with
trade union knowledge in these programmes. Many of such
trainees are today leading our unions in different Banks.
7
Because of this, when AIBEA decided to launch Prabhat Parvana
Trade Union Training Institute, he became the obvious choice to be
the Course Director of the Institute and its functioning at Chennai.
He used to personally take classes on bank employees movement,
banking industry, wages and service conditions, impact of
technology, etc.
At the national level also, Com Sampath was very active in AIBEA
movement from the very beginning. When the 6th Conference of
AIBEA was held in Chennai in 1954, he played an active role in
hosting the same. In the 8th Conference of AIBEA held in Kolkata in
1956, he was elected to the Central Committee. In the historic
Trivandrum Conference of AIBEA held in 1964, he was elected as
Asst. Secretary. In 1985 in our Bangalore Conference, he was
elected as Secretary.
The Conferences of AIBEA hosted by TNBEF in Chennai in 1973 and
in 1989 are even today unforgettable for all the participants and
are testimony to the meticulous organising skills of Com. Sampath.
In the Golden Jubilee Conference in 1996 in Kolkata, he became the
President of AIBEA. He could have continued as long as he wanted
as he was a popular and accepted leader of our movement. But In
2001 Mumbai Conference he insisted and volunteered to step
down to promote younger leaders to come up to positions of
responsibility in the organisation. But he remained in the Central
Committee of AIBEA since then and till his end.
His contributions to AIBEA were immeasurable and invaluable. His
role in the bipartite wage negotiations was unique and outstanding
as he was the backbone of all the calculations in Bipartite
Settlements upto 7th BPS.
8
In all struggles, campaigns, organisational matters, and in every
aspect of AIBEA, his contribution in decision-making was
commendable.
In dealing with organisational issues, he was very dispassionate and
went into the roots of the problems while suggesting solutions. He
practiced utmost discipline in the organisation and insisted
everyone to be disciplined as he strongly believed that indiscipline
in the organisation would weaken the union. He was also insistent
on conforming to democratic norms within the organisation and
never took any decision unilaterally. He had the remarkable quality
of taking notes during any and every meeting. In meetings and
conferences, he would not only take notes of the views of the
comrades but would reply and clarify to each and every issue
raised.
In dealing with the finances of the Union, he was extremely
calculative to ensure that not a single rupee of the organisation was
wasted. Similarly, he was also very punctual and meticulous while
claiming the bills and submitting all the details of the expenses
incurred by him.
Another mentionable quality in him was his sense of punctuality in
attending meetings. Never in any meeting could we find him
coming late.
Com. Sampath never restricted himself to the precincts of bank
employees’ movement. He was also keenly interested in the
struggles and problems of the general working class and trade
union movement. He was associated with AITUC activities in
Tamilnadu for nearly six decades and was the member of its State
Council and Working Committee.
Due to his deep convictions against exploitation and commitment
to struggle there against, he was wedded to leftist ideology and
9
was a member of the Communist Party of India for more than six
decades till his death.
Com. Sampath had the privilege of close association and guidance
from eminent leaders of those days like Com. Mohan
Kumaramangalam, V.G. Row, ASK Iyengar, KTK Thangamani, N.K
Krishnan, Parvathi Krishnan, M Kalyanasundaram, P Manickam, etc.
He was also associated with leaders like Com. Indrajit Gupta, Homi
Daji, K L Mahendra, MS Krishnan, Dr. Raj Bahadur Gaur, S.S
Thiagarajan, A.M Gopu, TRS Mani, K.M Sundaram , A B Bardhan
and others. Leaders like Com. Sudhakar Reddy, Gurudas Dasgupta,
D Raja, R Nallakannu, Tha Pandian and others held him in high
esteem due to his lifelong contributions to our movement and for
his steadfast principles and for his commitment to the Communist
party.
In AIBEA, he was very closely associated with top leaders of AIBEA
like Com Prabhat Kar, Com Parvana, Com K.K Mundul, Com. N.S
Purao, Tarakeswar Chakraborti, D.P. Chadha, TKV Nair, AVG Nair,
P.S Sundaresan, P.K Menon and many others. After the death of
Com. Prabhat Kar, Com. Tarakeswar heavily relied on the views and
suggestions of Com. Sampath in taking various organisational
decisions.
He was always concerned that AIBOA should develop into a
stronger organisation and frequently he used to discuss with Com R
J Sridharan on how to work together with co-ordination.
Com Sampath was a tireless trade union leader who believed in
meticulous planning and team-building. One of his unique qualities
was his ability to transcend the age barrier and to mingle with
younger generation leaders and members with ease. Even at the
very old age, he tried to learn the use of computer and was
10
updating himself constantly on use of technology in trade union
activities.
Due to his impeccable uprightness and steadfastness to principles
of AIBEA, he was highly respected by all and various other unions
also held him in high esteem. In the negotiations with IBA, Com
Sampath commanded a special respect from IBA due to his
thoroughness of the service conditions and genuineness of his
arguments.
Despite his old age, Com Sampath kept himself active in the
organisation and did justice to the positions he held. In fact, a few
days before his death, on the 14th and 15th of November, 2014, he
participated in the entire proceedings of the CC meeting of All India
Co-op. Bank Employees Federation and guided their deliberations.
That came to be his last participation in a trade union programme.
It is very rare to see a leader like Com Sampath being so meticulous
in every work of the trade union. His simplicity and humbleness
was always adored by everyone in our movement.
For more than six decades, he was dedicated to the cause of bank
employees and AIBEA, and in his death, we have lost a veteran
leader who belonged to the generation that built up AIBEA since
inception. The entire life of Com Sampath was a saga of sacrifices
and struggles for the cause of bank employees in particular and
working class in general.
Oh Death, be not proud that you have
snatched him away
He will live in our hearts forever.