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SBI Bengal circle unions threaten strike

Indrani Dutta

KOLKATA: The State Bank of India Officers Association and the SBI Staff Association have threatened to culminate their current agitation with a one-day strike on March 28 unless the management amended its action which the unions claimed was contrary to mutual agreements.

In a press release issued here, the two Bengal Circle bodies protesting against activities of the management relating to the Foreign Exchange Department, said that under an agreement signed between the SBI management and the All India SBI Staff Federation and the Officers Federation, it was decided to share the forex dealing between the Foreign Department in Kolkata and the Treasury Operation outfit in Mumbai on an equal basis.

‘Violation of agreement’

The unions had protested against what they felt was utter violation of the agreement.

Subsequently, it was decided that a tripartite meeting would be held to work out another agreement to replace the earlier one.

However pending this, the move to gradually shift forex operations out of Kolkata was continuing.

Hunger strike

The release said that it was in protest against these moves that a relay hunger strike was launched on March 10 along with a tiffin-time demonstration.

This would culminate in a one-day strike unless the management took corrective steps, they said. The genesis of the current crisis lay in a move in 1998 by the SBI to shift various activities of the forex office from here to Mumbai. The matter figured in discussions between the then Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, and the then Prime Minister and also in the much-publicized Bengal Package of Mamta Banerjee.

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