Kolkata, Dec. 19 (IANS): Ahead of the strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) on Dec. 26, one of the bank officers' union has called a strike on Dec. 21, demanding unconditional mandate for the XIth bipartite wage revision talks, officials said on Wednesday.
In the wake of strikes and holidays, the banks will remain closed from next Friday to Wednesday, except Monday and the banking services could adversely be affected on these days.
The banks will remain closed on Dec. 22 and 23 on account of fourth Saturday and Sunday respectively. Dec. 25 will be national holiday for Christmas.
"We called the strike on Dec. 21 demanding full and unconditional mandate for the XIth bipartite wage revision talks based on a charter of demands submitted in May, 2017. No headway has been made in the process so far even after 19 months since discussion on wage revision began," All India Bank Officers Confederation's (AIBOC) Assistant General Secretary Sajay Das said.
According to him, over 3.2 lakh officers of the union would participate in the strike as "no perceptible initiative" was observed from Indian Banks' Association to impress upon the five banks who have not yet submitted the unconditional mandate".
The union opposed the current move to restrict the salary settlements only up to Scale III by citing non-receipt of the 'unconditional mandates' from five banks as a reason whereas 15 banks from the public sector and two private banks have already given 'unconditional mandates'.
"AIBOC believes that it is nothing but a farcical logic to restrict the wage negotiations up to the officers in scale III whereas the entire officer community is covered under unified Service Regulations," the statement said.
