10 lakh bankers to strike work in May-end

Over 10 lakh bankers in government and private banks will go on a two-day strike by the end of May if the government does not ask the Indian Banks Association (IBA) to make an improved offer, said a leader of the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA).

"It is a matter of shame that while thousands of crores of rupees are written off from profits towards bad loans of big corporates, the genuine demands of bank employees are being denied in this fashion," C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA, said on Sunday.

"If the Finance Ministry does not intervene to make the IBA to make their improved offer, it has been decide to call for a 48-hour continuous strike by end of this month," he said.

Wage revision talks between the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) -- an umbrella body of bank unions -- and IBA representing various banks held in Mumbai on Saturday ended in a failure.

Venkatachalam said the IBA offered an increase of 2 per cent over the total wage bill of the banks as on March 31, 2017.

In the last 10th Bipartite Wage Settlement that was made effective from November 1, 2012, IBA had agreed for a hike of 15 per cent increase over the total wage bill.

The unions rejected the IBA offer of 2 per cent hike, Venkatachalam said.

While the government had asked the IBA to conclude the wage revision settlement before November 1, 2017, the latter has been delaying, Venkatachalam added.

Wage revision for bankers is due from November 1, 2017.