Bank strike: The management-employee chasm at PSBs has never been wider

PSBs need to get over the vexed issue of wage negotiation, and collectively work to promote an institutional environment

The banking industry has yet to recover from its crisis of stressed assets – and it faces a new situation, of a spate of strikes by bank unions. The first strike took place on December 21, and the next is scheduled for December 26. Both crises demonstrate that bank managements do not learn from the past.

The principal issue for the first strike was the refusal of bank managements, led by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), to include the entire officers’ class in the ambit of bipartite wage negotiations – on the grounds that five out of 20 public sector banks