S K Datta Restrictive labour practices, which have become a major obstacle to optimum utilisation of staff in the banking industry, have developed because of the complacency and indifference of the managerial and supervisory staff of banks, on the one hand, and inter-group and inter-union rivalry resulting in competition among unions to ensure as low a workload to employees as possible, on the other. The incorporation of a joint declaration on restrictive practices in the Third Bipartite Settlement in the banking industry was a significant development in this context. However, bank managements have so far evinced little determination to make use of the joint declaration to put an end to restrictive practices.
