In the midst of the global financial crisis taking its toll on banks in the US and Europe, employees of Asian banks have joined hands to form the first transnational association of the financial sector workforce to protect their jobs.
"The association formed today will be called the Asian Regional Organisation of Banks, Insurance and Finance Unions (AROBIFU), having representation from 15 Asian countries," said All India Bank Employees Association General Secretary C H Venkatachalam, who has been elected President of AROBIFU.
To begin with, the association will have representation of 20 unions from countries including India, South Korea, Pakistan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, he said.
Venkatachalam said the association has twin objectives of ensuring job safety and resisting forces that may attempt to hinder the socio-economic growth of Third World countries, particularly Asian countries.
It is now an established fact that the current global financial sector crisis is the result of the fallacy and failure of the policies of liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation, he said.
"The myth of free market stands totally exposed all over the world," he said.
Therefore, like-minded people in Asian countries have decided to form an association to safeguard the interests of employees and customers, he said.
The secretariat will function from Chennai, he said, adding other office-bearers are from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan.
