Team Herald
PANJIM: Employees and officers of various State-run banks have called for a two-day nationwide strike on May 30 and 31 to protest a nominal 2 per cent wage hike offered by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).
Goa Bank Employees Association (GBEA) has also called for a protest rally on May 30 at Azad Maidan in Panjim.
“Wage revision in banks is due from 1st November 2017. Government has been advising the Indian Banks’ Association to conclude the settlement before November 2017. Unions have submitted the Charter of Demands in May 2017 and discussions commenced with the unions in May 2017. But even though several rounds of discussions have taken place, IBA did not come forward to make any offer,” GBEA General Secretary A M Pereira said.
He added, “On May 5, 2018 in the negotiations IBA made an offer to hike the wages by 2 per cent quoting poor financial condition of the banks as a reason. They also refused to negotiate a wage revision for all officers and to restrict the wage revision for Scale I, II and III officers and not including Scale IV to VII under the wage revision process though from 1979 wage revision for officers covers all officers.”
The strike call was given by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), a representative body of nine bank unions, in the wake of the government’s casual approach to wage revision for bank employees/officers.
