The Andhra Pradesh Bank Employees’ Federation has deplored the inordinate delay in implementation of the tenth bilateral agreement on wage revision and said bank employees will go on a two-day strike on January 20 and 21 in protest.
Addressing a meeting at the Maharanipeta SBI branch on Thursday, federation general secretary B S Rambabu said the implementation was delayed in the name of banking reforms that would weaken public sector banks. The strike call had been given by United Forum of Bank Unions to protest the delay and the government not holding meaningful discussions on the issue.
He opposed the move to set up new private banks and the recommendations of the Nachikta Mor committee, set up by RBI, stating that it would promote private sector banking. Mr. Rambabu said steps should be taken to recover the Rs.2.5 lakh crore of non-performing assets and details of those responsible for it should be made public. Convenor of UFBU J.P. Sarma said the meeting was held to protest the delay in implementation of the wage revision agreement, to create awareness among employees and to inform the public about the strike. C A S Prabhakar of AIBOC, P.S. Malleswara Rao and I. Kesava Rao (AIBEA), K. Ramachandra Rao (BEFI), P V Ramakrishna (AIBOA) and G. Ravi Varma (NOBW) participated.
