Bank Strike For Two Days In January

Bank employees to go on strike on Jan 20, 21-Business Standard

They are demanding early wage revision and protesting against banking reforms

Bank Employees to go on a two day strike on January 20 and 21, followed by further strikes in February and March 2014.

 The decision was taken at a meeting UFBU took place in Hyderabad today, said C H Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA)

The UFBU, apart from All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), includes All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA), Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), Indian National Bank Employees Federation (INBEF), Indian National Bank Officers Congress (INBOC), National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) and National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO).

In a meeting it was decided to urge upon the Indian Banks Association and Government to resume the talks with a better and reasonable offer of wage increase and expedite the settlement at the earliest.

Around ten lakh employees went on a strike on December 18th demanding for early wage revision and against banking reforms. The decision comes after talks between Unions and Banks was failed.

C H Venkatachalam, General Secretary All India Banks Employees Association (AIBEA) said talks between Indian Banks Association (IBA) and AIBEA on Saturday did not yield any positive result so the Union decided to call for a strike.

The Union was demanding early wage revision, which he claims its pending for almost an year.

"They (IBA) said economy is in bad situation and cannot revise wages now, which we don't agree," said Venkatachalam.

The Union is also against banking reforms including privatisation, mergers, giving license for Corporate houses, rising NPAs and others, said Venkatachalam.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/bank-employees-to-go-on-strike-on-jan-20-21-113122300498_1.html

Bank staff plan to strike work on Jan 20-21-Business Line 23.12.2013

G. NAGA SRIDHAR

HYDERABAD, DEC. 23:  

Upset over the offer of a mere 5 per cent increase in salary and delay in wage settlement, employee unions of public sector banks have decided to strike work for two days next month.

They have been demanding about 30 per cent increase in wages; in the last revision in 2007, the hike was around 17 per cent.

“At a meeting with all nine major bank staff unions here today, we have decided to call for strike on January 20-21, 2014,” A. K. Ramesh Babu, President, Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), toldBusiness Line.

Given the increasing per employee productivity in banks, the offered hike was too “less” and “humiliating”, he said. So far, some five rounds of negotiations have been held between bank employee unions and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

The wages were last revised in 2007 and the term of revision expired in 2012. “It is almost one year since the expiry of the previous settlement and we want speedy resolution,” he added.

According to Pradip Biswas, General-Secretary, BEFI, another cause of concern for the unions was the “deviation” from the age-old practice of wage settlement.

“For the first time, they are proposing that employees up to scale III level will only be included in the general wage settlement, but this is just aimed at creating divisions without transparency,” he said.

Effectively, this proposal means that the wage hikes of officers above senior branch manager category will be linked to performance and could vary from person to person.

In 2007, employee wages, on an average, accounted for 20 per cent of banks’ total costs. This will now come down to 16 per cent, which means a reduction in salaries if inflation is factored in, he added.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/banking/bank-staff-plan-to-strike-work-on-jan-2021/article5494247.ece