Bank unions to intensify strike on wage settlement

The United Forum of Bank Unions would be holding a one-day all-India strike on January 7 followed by a four-day strike from January 21-24

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has decided to intensify its agitation programmes with a five-day strike in January and an indefinite strike from March 16, seeking an early and reasonable wage settlement.

The All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) said a meeting of the UFBU held at Mumbai on December 17 had expressed its dissatisfaction on the casual attitude of the Indian Bank’s Association (IBA) to the resentment of employees and officers over the undue delay in settling demands for wage revision.

It also had expressed its displeasure over the government’s lack of response.

The UFBU would be holding a one-day all-India strike on January 7 followed by a four-day strike across the country from January 21-24. An indefinite strike would be initiated from March 16 to achieve the demand, it added.

Besides these, mass demonstrations and processions would be held in all centres on December 30, 2014, and on January 6, 2015. Wearing of black ribbon badges by the employees would be organised on January 5.

“The meeting took a serious note of the action of the IBA in asking all banks to re-visit the mandate given earlier to the IBA to negotiate and settle wage demands of the unions and has unanimously decided to lodge its protest immediately by calling for a day’s strike on January 7, as the action of the IBA was nothing but a ploy to delay the negotiation process of wage revision,” added AIBEA in a statement. 

The UFBU meeting also deplored the indifferent and re-calcitrant attitude of the IBA in sticking to its offer of 11 per cent increase in pay slip components despite flexibility shown by the UFBU by offering to reduce its demand and further negotiate on the same for the sake of an amicable early settlement, it added.