Transactions worth crores of rupees were stuck up by the strike of the officers of public sector banks on Friday. The strike was part of the national level strike call given by All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC).
The agitating employees gathered at Parade Ground in the city where they sat on a dharna. The general secretary of the Uttarakhand chapter of AIBOC, P R Kukreti said that 3.2 lakh bank officers of the country had been forced to go on strike due to continued apathy of the Centre vis-Ã -vis their demands.
He said that the officers were agitated as just 15 banks had given mandate to Indian Banking Association (IBA ) to negotiate on their behalf while five major banks had not given even restricted mandate to IBA. “The objective of the Government and IBA is a clear attempt to divide the officers fraternity to which we cannot remain mere spectators,’’ he said. The bank officers have been demanding early and respectable wage settlement based on the minimum wage concept.
Besides, they are for upgrading pensions and removing anomalies in the pension scheme.
The AIBOC further demands the pension scheme on the line of the same being provided to Central Government employees be introduced in the banking industry.
The confederation of officers also is vociferous on the need of recovery of the non- performing assets (NPAs) and an effective law to recover bad loans.