Bank employees, under the aegis of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), took part in an one-day relay strike, seeking immediate wage revision in front of the SBI NRI Branch near Stella College in the city on Tuesday.
Banking operations in southern zone comprising Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and the Union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry were hit due the strike. It will be followed by a similar protest in Northern India on December 3, Eastern India on December 4 and Western India on December 5.
Vijayawada Bank Employees Coordination Committee secretary K. Nagesh Kumar, K. Raghram of AIBOC, P. L. Prakash (NCBE), G. Syam Babu (AIBOA), R. Ajay Babu (BEFI) and others addressed the gathering.
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Mr. Nagesh Kumar said that the last bipartite settlement was signed on April 27, 2010 and was valid from November 1, 2007 to October 31, 2012. All banks which gave mandate to the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) to negotiate on their behalf were parties to the settlement.
The IBA was offering only 11 per cent wage revision whereas the unions scaled down their demand from 25 per cent to 23 per cent. The stalemate, however, continued to persist as the IBA was sticking on their offer of 11 per cent. The government and IBA argued that there was a downward trend in profitability of banks. The argument was far from reality as the banks’ operating profits had been on the rise every year, he said.
The NPAs were increasing due to wilful default of bank loans by corporate and industrial houses. Bank employees and officers should not be held responsible for it. In fact, only 12 per cent of the total establishment expenditure was being spent towards salaries of the officers and award staff, he said. Besides wage revision, bank unions have also demanded a reduction in the number of working days of employees to five days from six days as well as regulated working hours for officers, he added.
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