The 11th round of wage negotiations between United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has hit an impasse with two officers’ associations in the UFBU refusing to be a part of the deliberations, sources said.
The wage revision talks between the IBA and the UFBU had been under way since May 2017. The tenth round of negotiations, which concluded in May 2015 (for the period November 2012-17), had resulted in a 15% increase in wages.
When the UFBU sought to expedite a deal, the two officers’ associations — the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation and National Organisation of Bank Officers — decided not to participate in the talks saying the deal would be restricted only to those up to the rank of assistant general managers. The unions wanted the proposed wage pact to cover deputy general managers and general managers also, which was not acceptable to the IBA because those ranks comprised top executives that did not belong to any union.
Workmen’s demands
On Thursday, representatives of seven out of nine UFBU unions took part in the talks held in Mumbai. Since the two officers’ associations failed to send a representative for the talks, IBA restricted the discussions to workmen’s demands.
On wage revision for officers, the IBA said: “Whatever is finalised for the workmen unions, on the same basis, it will be extended and implemented for the officers also.”
If the two unions were not participating, talks would be restricted only to workmen unions, the IBA said.
The workmen unions said they would meet on March 1 to finalise their stand.
“We are negotiating for nearly 9.5 lakh workmen and officers. Officers above scale V are less than 1%. We hope to conclude the talks soon,” said C.H. Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees’ Association.
