The Hindu Business Line : SBI pension talks fail, strike to continue

The deadlock
New ceiling proposed by Govt much lower
Unions to intensify agitation
United Forum of Bank Unions meet on April 11
Pension remains unchanged since `92

Mumbai , April 8

The SBI employees' strike continued for the sixth day on Saturday as talks between the unions and the bank's management failed.

On Saturday, the Government rejected the unions' demands seeking upward revision in pension. This was despite the unions lowering their demand.

The two sides held marathon discussions here. The revised demands were submitted to the Finance Ministry during the day. However, the Government rejected the fresh demands.

The new ceiling proposed by the Government for pension is much lower than the limit sought by the unions. With talks inconclusive, they decided to revert to their original demands.

"With a heavy heart we continue our strike. Despite our efforts to end the strike by scaling down the demands, the Government has rejected it. The Government's stance is unrealistic. We blame Mr Chidambaram (Finance Minister),'' said Mr P.K. Patnaik, Secretary, All India SBI Staff Federation.

According to him, the unions will intensify the agitation through hunger strikes and other methods.

Other bank unions under the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) will also hold a token one-day strike in support of the SBI strike. The UFBU, which comprises nine unions, will meet in Chennai on April 11 to take a decision.

"It feels as though we were more interested than the government in ending the strike. We had lowered our demands. After raising our hopes today, the government has let us down by rejecting our demands,'' said Mr Amar Pal, President, All India SBI Officers' Federation.

Scale down demand

The pension for SBI employees was fixed at a maximum of Rs 4,250 per month compared to other PSU bank employees who get up to 50 per cent of the last drawn pay. Also, the pension for SBI employees had remained unchanged since 1992, though salaries were revised in 2002.

The unions are demanding rationalisation of pensions to match that of other PSU banks. When scaling down their demand, the unions had asked for 50 per cent of the basic of the last drawn pay as pension for officers up to Scale 5, the assistant general level (AGM). For officers of higher rank above AGMs - ranging from deputy general manager to deputy managing director - the revised demand had sought over and above the pension at AGM level, a further 40 per cent of the incremental difference in basic pay between the ranks.

In response, the Government proposed pension for employees with a basic salary of less than Rs 10,000 per month. This was unacceptable to the union.

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