Mumbai, Sept 29: Weak public-sector banks will not be able to implement the seventh bipartite wage pact with retrospective effect from November 1997. The issue came up for discussion at the Indian banks' Association (IBA) management-committee meeting held in Delhi on Monday even as trade unions have threatened to go on the warpath to press for early settlement of the wage pact.The sixth bipartite wage pact expired in October 1997. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the latest wage pact was signed in March 1999. However, till date the bank unions and IBA have not been able to thrash out the differences and sign the pact.
The bankers' body is also pressing for the trade unions' nod on large-scale computerisation and intra-state transfers of bank employees. In return, the IBA is expected to do a rethink on the issue of distribution of load on account of pension scheme. "It's a sort of quid pro quo... The IBA may accept the unions' demand of sharing a portion of the pension load provided the bankunions are willing to accept large scale computerisation and transfer of employees," a senior banker said under condition of anonymity.
These issues will be discussed at the next round of negotiations between the nine bank unions and the IBA, to be held in the first week of October. When contacted IBA secretary CEO MN Dandekar said: "We will soon hold discussion with unions. We plan to stick to the terms of the MoU already entered into between the IBA and the unions."
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.