Bank unions defer proposed strike on January 7

New Delhi: Public sector bank employee unions have defered their one-day strike, proposed for January 7, while negotiations will continue tomorrow with  the management representatives on wage hike and other issues.   

Bank unions have deferred the strike as Indian Banks Association (IBA) improved the offer to 12.5 per cent from 11 per cent, said United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) Convener, M V Murali. The UFBU is the umbrella organisation of nine bank employees and officer unions. All India Bank Employees Association General Secretary C H Venkatachalam said negotiations would continue tomorrow as   the unions have not agreed to the improved offer.   

"We will continue to negotiate for further improvement in the wage revision with the IBA," Venkatachalam said. The wage revision of public sector bank employees has been due since November 2012. "We have scaled down our demand from 25 per cent to 23  per cent (wage hike) and further to 19.5 per cent. We want a respectable hike in line with inflationary pressure," Ashwini    Rana, General Secretary of National Organisation of Bank    Workers, said.  

To press for their demand, the bank unions had gone on four-day rotational strike between December 2-5. There are 27 public sector banks in the country with a combined employee strength of about 8 lakh. There are about 50,000 branches of these banks across the country.