Bank strike hits operations

Wage woes: A PSB branch in Chennai shut due to two-day strike called by AIBEA, on Wednesday.

Wage woes: A PSB branch in Chennai shut due to two-day strike called by AIBEA, on Wednesday.   | Photo Credit: V Sreenivasa Murthy

About 10 lakh employees on protest against ‘meagre’ raise

Branch operations across the country were crippled on Wednesday, the first day of the two-day strike called by bank employees unions to protest against a meagre wage hike proposal.

Almost 10 lakh employees of various branches of 21 public sector banks, 13 old generation private sector banks, six foreign banks and 56 regional rural banks across the country went on strike as the IBA offered them a nominal wage revision, the All India Bank Employees Association said in a statement.

As several rounds of talks between banks and employee unions did not make any headway, the United Forum of Banking Unions (UFBU) had gone on strike against the proposed wage increase of 2%, AIBEA general secretary C.H. Venkatachalam said.

Employee unions of banks has called for the strike to protest against meagre salary hike — 2% — proposed by the Indian Banks’ Association — the banks’ body. In the last wage revision in 2012, the bank employees got a 15% raise.

‘IBA not serious’

“Since May 2017, United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has been pursuing with the IBA for negotiated settlement on wages but even after one year IBA does not seems to be serious in the issue of wage settlement,” said Devidas Tuljapurkar, convenor, UFBU, the umbrella body of nine bank unions.

(With PTI inputs)