State Bank of India has cancelled the check-off facility to its officers’ federation making it the bank’s biggest measure to come down hard on trade union activities.

According to a report in Mint, the country’s largest bank used to directly transfer the subscription fee of the member officers (including 70,000 officers) from their salary accounts to the association’s account towards the end of every month. This check-off facility ensured regular inflow of money for the union which was used to undertake activities across the country.

The bank’s decision to terminate this facility comes as another roadblock for the union which has been in a battle with the bank for some time now. The union is known to have put the bank in trouble on various employee-related policies and the bank is reported to have returned the favour by taking action against those officers by transferring them to remote areas and issuing chargesheets in some cases.

The practice until now was that at the time of joining, employees submitted in writing to the bank allowing them to deduct around Rs 100-200 each month from their salaries. The bank has however, discontinued this practice and instead asked the members of the All India State Bank Officers’ Federation (AISBOF) to individually pay their subscription fees.