IBA, unions wage talks fail again

quot;We have decided to go ahead with the all-India bank strike on January 12,quot; said Tarakeswar Chakraborti, general secretary of the All India Bank Employees Association, the largest constituent of the UFBU. quot;Bankers have pleaded that they cannot accede demand for our wage hike since banks will have to absorb a cost of Rs 1,500 crore on their books,quot; he added.

All India Bank Officers Confederation AIBOC general secretary, SR Sengupta said, quot;the IBA had given us a lot of hope at our previous meeting but they have gone back on all the promises they made. They are now resorting to threats of retrenchmentand voluntary retirement schemes if their offer is not accepted.quot;

In a substantial climb-down from their original stance, bank unions and officers8217; organisations have decided to press for a 20 per cent wage hike even as the Indian Banks8217; Association is sticking to its offer of an eight per cent hike.

The IBA has called a meeting of trade unions and officers8217; organisations today Friday to thrash out the differences. The objective is to avert the proposed January 12 industry strike. The association is, however, not prepared to revise its wage offer made last year. quot;We are prepared to settle for a 20 per cent wage hike, lower than our original demand for 25 per cent. IBA must have an open mind and negotiate if it wants us to withdraw the strike call,quot; a Mumbai-based officers8217; organisation leader told The Indian Express.

The unions have, however, rejected the IBA offer of a wage agreement with a prospective effect. quot;There is no question of accepting this8230; The association will have to make thenew wage agreement effective from November 1997 when the last wage pact expired. We will not compromise on this issue,quot; the source said.

In November last year, the IBA had issued a take-it-or-leave-it note to bank unions offering 8 per cent wage hike for nine lakh odd bank employees at the seventh bipartite settlement. Subsequently, it offered the same package to the officers8217; bodies. It had also made it clear that the wage settlement would be made effective prospectively and not from November 1997 when the last wage pact had expired.

At the last five-year wage settlement8211; which expired in November 19978211; bank employees and officers had got a 10.5 per cent hike. quot;Keeping in view the present scenario and the banks8217; paying capacity IBA has made the final offer of wage revision equal to 8 per cent increase in establishment expenses as on March 31, 1997, to be implemented prospectively. It would not be possible to revise the offer, IBA secretary and CEO MN Dandekar said.

Some of the weak banks have hintedat opting out of the wage settlement as they cannot afford any wage revision. According to sources, at least three banks 8212; Uco, UBI and Indian Bank 8212; are planning to withdraw the mandate given to the IBA to broker the wage deal on their behalf. The 8 per cent hike in employees8217; wage8211; if implemented8211; will impose an annual burden of Rs 530 crore on the banking industry. An identical wage increase for the bank officers will put an annual burden of Rs 400 crore on the industry taking the total burden to Rs 930 crore.