SBI gives in to some demands, strike called off

The officers' union of State Bank of India (SBI) has called off a two-day nation-wide strike that was to begin on November 8 after the management conceded to some of their demands, a development that comes as a relief to over 14 crore customers of the bank.

"The strike has been deferred as understanding on certain issues has been reached with the management," All-India State Bank Officers Federation (AISBOF) General Secretary G D Nadaf told PTI.

Keeping in mind the convenience of customers and reputation of the bank, the union decided to defer the two-day countrywide strike, he said, adding that dialogue with the management is still ongoing with respect to the remaining issues.

Nadaf claimed that the management has agreed to their demand for adequate compensation to officers working on holidays. The management has also given assurances on issues related to transfers and promotion of staff to officer cadre, he said.

The nation's largest lender, which has over 13.60 crore customers, has about 13,560 branches spread across the country.

Yesterday, SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri had appealed to the union to withdraw the proposed strike.

"We expect and hope that the strike will be called off. We have not estimated our losses on account of the strike yet. More than the loss of money, it will damage the confidence of our customers," he had said.

Had the strike not called off, customers of the bank would have faced an outage of branch services for five days, beginning today.

While Monday and Thursday are public holidays, banking operations would have been hit on Tuesday and Wednesday due to the strike called by the union.