Bank unions to go on two-day nationwide strike from May 30 over wage dispute

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Mumbai: Employees and officers of various state-run banks will go on a two-day nationwide strike beginning May 30 in protest against a nominal 2 percent wage hike offered by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA).

During the wage negotiation meeting held on May 5 this year, the IBA had proposed to offer 2 percent hike in the wage bill cost as on March 31, 2017.

The IBA also maintained that the negotiations on officers demands would be restricted up to scale III officers only.

However, this did not go well with the employees and officers of various state-run banks.

"It is only because of provisions towards NPA that banks have booked losses, and for this, bank employees are not responsible," United Forum of Bank Unions' convener Devidas Tuljapurkar told reporters here.

Tuljapurkar said that the bank employees have worked tirelessly in the last two-three years for implementation of government initiatives such as Jan-Dhan, demonetisation, Mudra and Atal Pension Yojana among others but they are not being rewarded for their hard work.

"This has increased the work pressure on them," he said.

In the last wage settlement, which was for the period November 1, 2012, to October 31, 2017, IBA had given a wage hike of 15 percent.

The bank employees will hold demonstrations on May 29 at State Bank of India's main branch at Fort here.

UFBU is an umbrella body of nine unions, including All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW). 

(With PTI inputs)