Bank employees across the country will go on a three-day strike to press a list of demands including wage revision among from March 11, Sanjeev Kumar Bandlish, convener of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) and general secretary of All India SBI Staff Federation, has said, adding that an indefinite strike will be launched on April 1 if the negotiations with the Indian Banks Association (IBA) fail.
Addressing the media here on Sunday, Mr. Bandlish said that negotiations with the IBA on the wage revision were on and it would continue till March 5. The main demands of the employees included wage revision settled at 20% hike on pay slip components, 5-day banking, updating pension and improvement in family pension.
The UFBU observed a two-day strike on January 31 and February 1 on the same issues. The Chief Labour Commissioner had asked the IBA to negotiate with the unions.
Negotiations on
“The IBA is reluctant to consider the main demands. After mutual consultation with constituent union representatives, it was conveyed to the IBA that if the wage revision settlement offer was improved from 12.5 % to 15 %, the remaining issues could be sorted out through further negotiations,” said Mr. Bandlish, adding that the IBA regretted its inability to improve the offer and hence the UFBU decided to go ahead with the strike.
L. Chandra Sekhar, general secretary, SBI Staff Union, Amaravati Circle, A. Sushma, vice-president, SBI Staff Union, Visakhapatnam Module and G.S. Chandra Sekhar, assistant general secretary, were present.