One-day strike criples banking operation

Banking operation was crippled on Wednesday as bank employees observed a one-day strike demanding early wage settlement and opposing banking sector reforms.

The impact of the strike was more prominent in the eastern and southern sectors. ATMs remained closed in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
The bank unions called the strike after rejecting Indian Banks' Association's offer of a 5% salary hike and they would chalk out future plans on December 23 in Hyderabad to intensify pressure on the managements' body. The wage revision for government bank employees is due since November 2012.

At the last tripartite wage settlement in 2007 which expired in October 2012, bank employees received a 18% hike in salaries.

"If there is no positive response from IBA and the government, employees may resoirt to further agitation including strikes," said Rajen Nagar, president of All India Bank Employees Association, the largest bank union representing almost half of 10 lakh bank employees including officers and subordinated staff.

Reserve Bank of India employees and officers organized huge rallies before all RBI offices including central office at Mumbai in support of the United Forum of Bank Unions or UFBU, the umbrella body for nine major bank unions and refuting the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission recommendations of taking away some functions of RBI.

"The rallies strongly repudiated Finance Minister's public announcement in Mumbai on December 14th on Government's decision to implement the recommendations of FSLRC of March 2013 and take away immediately several important functions and powers of the country's central bank and vest those functions with the government and/or separate agencies," said Samir Ghosh, general secretary of RBI's employees association.

Source: EconomicTimes