Indian Bank Association and Bank Unions failed to reach to an agreement

Next round of talks scheduled on February 23

Banks Unions and Indian Bank Association (IBA) could not come to an agreement at the conciliation meeting held at New Delhi. The next meeting is scheduled at Mumbai in February 23. Four days strike called by the Unions from February 23 as of today is expected to happen, according to Union.

C H Venkatachalam, general secretary, All Indian Bank Employees Association said that in response to the strike call issued by the Unions, the Chief Labour Commissioner P P Mitra held a conciliation today in his office in Delhi. M V Tanksale, Chief Executive of Indian Banks' Association, (IBA) and K Unnikrishnan, deputy Chief Executive IBA have participated in the meeting.

During the conciliation meeting, the IBA requested the Unions to defer the strike call so that further negotiations can continue. Unions pointed out that when earlier strike call was deferred there was no positive response from IBA and unless IBA can come out with further positive improvement in their offer, it is not possible to defer the strike, he said.

After discussions, the CLC advised that one more round of direct bipartite talks be held to find out an amicable solution and it is advisable to avoid strike in the banking sector in the interest of the economy.

Accordingly, IBA has fixed further direct bipartite negotiations between IBA and UFBU on February 23.

So far IBA has offered an increase of 13 per cent, which translates to Rs 4,095 crore. However, Unions want the IBA to substantially improve their offer and have also offered to further negotiate on their present demand of 19.5 per cent to find out an acceptable solution, said Venkatachalam.

He also urged the Centre to intervene and help in arriving at an amicable understanding on the demands.

"If no tangible and positive outcome would be there in the negotiations on 23rd, Unions would be constrained to implement their four days strike from February," said Venkatachalam. The Union also threatened to go on indefinite strike from March 16.