Bank employees up the ante on wage revision

HUBBALLI: Most of the nationalized banks in the city remained shut on Tuesday in the wake of the strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU). The local unit of UFBU took out a rally that commenced from Union Bank of India and culminated at the same venue after passing through Lamington Road, Channamma Circle and the tahsildar's office.
Addressing the gathering, UFBU leader Stephen Jayachandra said that the wage revision and improvement of service conditions in the banking industry is due since November 1, 2012."All nine unions under UFBU have scaled down their demands from 25% to 23%, whereas Indian Bankers' Association (IBA), representing managements, has moved the offer from 5% to 11%, which is far below any standards, in comparison with previous bipartite settlements," he said.
Another leader Rudragouda Patil deplored the inconvenience caused to customers due to the strike, but said they were left with no other option. "We are helpless since we do not have options. The business of banks is increasing with voluminous growth in deposits, net profits, with more number of branches. However, the number of employees is not growing accordingly and their service conditions are not improving. This has led to increased work burden and unrest among employees. The protest is against the static approach by the government and the IBA," he said.
Nandakishore Malkhedkar, Milind Katti, Balakrishna, MD Deshpande, Sudhakar Pai, Shivu Nandigeri and others were present in the protest. Most of nationalized banks were closed in the city while some of private banks functioned as usual.