2-day bank strike from Wednesday

About 1 million bank officers are expected to participate in the strike on May 30 and May 31

Around 1 million bank employees will go on a two-day strike this Wednesday as the conciliation efforts by the Union government failed to convince bank unions to call off protests against the proposed low wage hike.

Additional chief labour commissioner (CLC) Rajan Verma met the bank unions, under the banner of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), finance ministry officials and bank management, represented by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) in an effort to avert the strike.

“The CLC tried his best to sort out the strike-related issues but there is no positive development.

"Though the bankers, through the IBA, said they are willing to reconsider the proposed wage hike, there was no concrete proposal. Hence, the strike stands,” All India Bank Employees’ Association general secretary C H Venkatachalam said.

D T Franco, general secretary, All India Bank Officers’ Confederation said about 1 million bank officers are expected to participate in the strike on May 30 and May 31.

During the conciliation proceedings, the bank unions told the CLC that a 2 per cent wage hike was proposed in a meeting held between bankers (IBA) and unions (UFBU) on May 5 “which was not at all acceptable, considering the rise in cost of living.”

“The officials from the IBA stated that they have had several rounds of discussions in respect of wage negotiations…in view of the huge non-performing assets or bad loans in the banks, only 2 per cent of wage increase was offered. But they also stated that they are still not closed and ready to negotiate further,” according to the minutes of the meeting.

Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters