Bank strike total in Dakshina Kannada

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru Nov 13, 2014: The nation-wide strike call given by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) evoked good response in the district, with branches of all nationalised banks, including the head office of the Corporation Bank remaining non-functional here.

 

 

UFBU, the umbrella organisation of nine different unions representing different cadres of employees of nationalised banks, had given the strike call following failure of negotiations with the Indian Banks’ Association on September 25. The forum has been demanding ‘adequate’ wage revision, pending since seven years.

Demands submitted

Vincent D’Souza, general secretary of South Kanara Bank Employees’ Association told The Hindu that though the forum had submitted a charter of their demands to the IBA and the Finance Ministry in October 2012, but the Union government was yet to announce a wage revision that satisfied the employees.

He said if the government did not announce a revision after the present strike, the forum had decided to hold relay strikes from December 3 to December 5, starting from the south of India and ending with eastern India. If the government still remained adamant, the forum would not hesitate to go on an indefinite strike, he said.

Branches of private sector banks, however, functioned normally in the district, even as employees of nationalised banks held demonstrations in front of their branches pressing for their demands. Addressing members of the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation here last month, its president Y. Sudarshan had regretted that the managements treated employees as a “liability” when it came to wage revision, while for the rest of operations including participation in national campaigns, they were treated as assets.

Pushed to strike

Resorting to strike was the last resort as employees did not want to inconvenience the public and it was the government that had pushed the employees into the strike, he said last month.

Udupi Special Correspondent writes: Banking services in Udupi district were affected on Wednesday by the one-day country-wide strike by bank employee unions. Members of UFBU staged a dharna in front of the Catholic Centre branch of Syndicate Bank and shouted slogans in support of their demands.

Courtesy: The Hindu