Bank Strike Another successful day of struggle NPMO Campaign Against Insurance and patent Bills Attact on Minorities A Protest

Online Report

Work in banks all over the country came to a standstill as more than 1.3 million bank employees went on a day’s strike in support of their demand for revision of pay scales, on January 12.The strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions in protest against the ‘intransigent’ attitude of the Indian Banks’ Association, the management's organisation towards the employees’ demands , was peaceful and total. Bank transactions in Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai Patna , Sikkim , Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Simla , Ahmedabad Chennai and elesewhere in the country, were all suspended clearing of cheques was also seriously affected. The leaders of the UFBU, the apex body of the trade unions operating in the banking sector, have decided to meet in Calcutta on January 19 to chalk out their future plan of action.

It may be mentioned here that after dilly dallying for a long period over the employees’ demands, the IBA representatives held a meeting with union leaders in Mumbai on January 8 on revision of the pay scales of the employees. But the meeting ended in a fiasco as the proposals made by the bank management's were far short of the employees "expectations". The term of the previous wage agrrement expired on October 31,1997. After 14 months of the lapse of the earlier agreement , the management's offered eight per cent increase in the salaries as against 20 per cent demanded . The negotiations broke down .The leaders said that the offer made by the management's was ‘anti-employee.’

In West Bengal, bank services remained paralysed oth in Calcutta and in the districts bas around 60,000 employees of public and private sector banks struck work. On this day, about 2,000 employees of the Reserve Bank of India held a protest demonstration in front of the office of the Chief General Manager in Calcutta expressing solidarity with the striking employees. The General Secretary of the Bank Employees Federation of India, Ashish Sen congratulated the bank employees including the officers of the banks for voluntarily participating in the strike . He said the strike call was issued as the IBA, ignoring the reasonable demand for 20 percent . wage rise with effect from 1st November 1997, had stuck to the offer of just 8 percent increase with prospective effect. S.R Sengupta , General Secretary , All India Bank Officers’ Confederation , Pradip Biswas, General Secretary, Bank Employees’ federation, West Bengal and Samir Ghosh, General Secretary, All India Reserve Bank Employees Association held the IBA responsible for creating a stalemate in the matter of wage negotiation with the representative unions of employees and officers.