Bank Strike On Sept 6 May Be Called Off Bank Stir Likely To Be

The officers' organisations held its first round of meeting with the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) in New Delhi last week to discuss the residual issues of the sixth bipartite wage settlement. They also met finance minister P Chidambaram and demanded a matching wage hike from the IBA in case the association signs a fresh deal with the staff unions paving the way for a wage hike beyond the existing settlement.

Since no wage hike has yet been given to the bank staff, the officers' bodies cannot go for a strike, finance ministry sources said.

The staff unions will meet Chidambaram on September 3 to press for their demands. Under the finance ministry's directive, the IBA had offered a Rs 74 crore package to the 6.5 lakh-odd bank staff, effective from August this year.

 

The unions have rejected the offer and decided not to accept anything short of a Rs 115-crore package with effect from November 1995.

Ministry sources said the IBA offer can be revised upwards at Rs 92 crore. At the most liberal estimate, the officers have received 40 per cent higher that their counterpart in the award staff.

A Rs 92 crore package will bridge that gap, sources said.

Meanwhile, cracks have surfaced in the joint action committee comprising the All India Bank Employees Association, National Confederation of Bank Employees, Bank Employees Confederation of India and Indian National Bank Employees Federation.

NCBE is believed to be in favour of going in for a strike to put pressure on IBA while Aibea, the largest bank union, is flexible in its approach. Aibea leader Tarakeswar Chakraborti is in Malaysia.

Chidambaram is not in favour of offering the officers a matching wage hike. He reportedly told the Aiboc leaders that the bank staff were offered a hike to bring about parity in the wage structure between them and that of the officers and nothing extra can be given to the officers.

However, the officers' organisations are not convinced with the finance minister's argument. They are drawing up plans for agitations in case the staff unions succeeds in clinching the deal.