SBI talks fail, Govt firm

The employees8217; unions held two rounds of negotiations with SBI chairman AK Purwar and managing director T. S. Bhattacharya in a bid to end the indefinite strike. Talks are expected to continue so that the bank can reopen for business on Monday.

Climbing down from their earlier demand, the striking employees gave a revised proposal to the bank8217;s management which was lower than their initial offer of a pension which was to be calculated on the basis of 50 of last basic salary drawn till general manager level.

However, Finance Special Secretary Vinod Rai said the government was prepared to raise the present pension ceiling of Rs 4,250 a month to a reasonable level based on current realities.

According to Rai, the reasonable level should take into account revision in the pay scales of employees, dearness allowance, inflation and stagnation increment.

8220;In their revised offer, bank unions sought to raise the limit of Rs 4,250 a month, fixed in 1999, to Rs 13,000,8221; Rai said. As per the present scheme, employees with basic pay of Rs 8,500 get 50 of their basic pay as pension and those above it receive it at 40.

Rai said principles behind the agreement reached between employees, management and the government in setting present day ceiling could not be tampered with. However, any reasonable demand would be sympathetically looked at, he said.

Unions of all banks are meeting in Chennai on April 11 to chalk out the next course of action which includes an industry wide strike to support the SBI staffers.