Bank trade unions on Tuesday said the improved offer of a 12 per cent increase in the pay slip cost by bank managements is unacceptable to them. The earlier offer was at 10 per cent.

“The nine trade unions, under the aegis of the United Forum of Bank Unions, welcomed this improvement, but informed that this offer is not acceptable, as the offer has to be at least more than 15 per cent, which was settled under the 10th settlement from 2012 to 2017,” said CH Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association.

Unions expect that bank managements, under the aegis of the Indian Banks’ Association, would reconsider and improve their offer so the settlement due from November 1, 2017, would be concluded early.

All-India bank strike

The wage negotiations took place in the backdrop of four officers’ organisations – All-India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), All-India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA), Indian National Bank Officers’ Congress (INBOC) and National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO) – calling for an all-India bank strike on September 26 and 27 to protest the merger of public sector banks and demanding expeditious settlement of wages and other issues.

S Nagarajan, General Secretary, AIBOA, said: “A discussion was held on performance-linked incentive (PLI). The basis for the PLI, which will be over and above the industry-wide wage settlement, are operating profit and return on assets. Going by these parameters, as on March 2008, there were only six banks that were eligible to give PLI.

“They have offered a hike in the wages from 10 per cent to 12 per cent. One per cent increase amounts to ₹526.50 crore.” Earlier, bank managements had offered fixed pay and variable pay of 8 per cent each.

Nagarajan emphasised that in the conciliation meeting held with the central labour commissioner (CLC) in May last year, the CLC had advised the IBA to commence the discussions at 15 per cent.