The first day of the nationwide bank strike paralysed banking services in the country on Thursday. An Indian Banks? Association (IBA) official said on condition of anonymity that the strike was 90% successful. The call for the strike was given by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), which is currently holding talks with the IBA for the ninth bipartite.
An official at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said only 70,000 cheques came for clearance in Mumbai. The normal figure is about six lakh cheques.
S Nagarajan, deputy general secretary, all India Bank Officers? Association (AIBOA), told FE that even though the IBA has reverted to its earlier offer of 17.5% wage hike for bank employees, the unions are not ready to accept anything less than 20%.
Another union leader, Vishwas Utagi, secretary of All India Bank Employees? Association, said, ?We want that our June 9 talks with the IBA should be the benchmark for continuation of further talks.?
Meanwhile, nearly 20,000 persons took part in a demonstration held by the UFBU at Azad Maidan. Except for scale four and higher-rank officials, all bank employees participated in the protest.
The chief labour commissioner has once again called a meeting of the employee union leaders for conciliatory talks in New Delhi on Friday. The CLC had held a similar meeting on Tuesday as well.