RBI staff plans strike on Feb 20

The country’s financial payment and clearing system will once again come to a standstill on February 20 following an one-day token strike by the employees of the Reserve Bank of India, including officers up to the rank of chief general managers to protest the government’s decision to withdraw pension updation scheme of the central bank employees.

The central bank had issued the internal circular citing the government’s decision on October 10, 2008, following which over 2,500 of its employees had already gone on mass casual leave on October 21, 2009.

Besides, some of the retired employees have already sought legal recourse and filed cases in courts. In response to one such case, RBI has intimated to the court that it has no objection in updating the pension, but it currently cannot do so violating the government’s order, sources close to the development said.

Employees said the issue of pension updation could have been resolved amicably since it requires only Rs 9-10 crore, while the corpus of RBI employees’ own contribution fund amounts to a whopping Rs 4,500-5,000 crore.