Striking SBI staff tone down demands

      New Delhi: Striking employees of the public sector State Bank of India have reportedly toned down their demands and forwarded a revised version to the Government in a bid to end their six-day-long strike. The demands were submitted after the disgruntled employees had an over three-hour meeting with SBI Chairman A K Purwar. After the meeting, All India SBI Staff Federation General Secretary P K Patnaik told reporters that the union has given a revised offer restricting their demand for 50 percent of last drawn salary as pension up to AGM level (scale V) instead of earlier demand for up to General Manager level. He said the bank chairman has gone through our proposal very carefully and he would discuss it with Finance Ministry and get back to us on our demand. As per the revised offer, the ceiling on pension would go up to Rs.13,000 a month from the present Rs. 4,250. Asserting there would be no further dilution of their offer, Patnaik said the employees would call off their strike immediately and start work tomorrow itself even though a holiday to clear the pending work. All India State Bank Federation President Amar Pal said the strike may be called off in the night. The union is to hold another round of talks with Purwar later in the night after he consults the Ministry. The employees representatives also have written to Finance Minister P Chidambaram to intervene to the break the impasse. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry officials were holding discussions on the developments. About 2.10 lakh employees in 9,000 branches of the bank across the country are on an indefinite strike since April 3 in support of their demand seeking higher pension.

     The ongoing strike, besides affecting the day-to-day banking operations at over 9,000 branches across the country, has impacted the account holders, particularly pensioners. The locks on the bank's branches and the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), which had turned non-functional, had added to the anxiety and inconvenience, especially to pensioners and salaried class, whose financial transactions had come to a halt since last Monday.

     The SBI employees resorted to the strike to press for immediate revision of individual and family pension ceiling to 50 percent of last drawn salary. SBI, with its network of various state banks under it, is the most successful public sector bank in India, providing various domestic, international and NRI products and services, through its vast network inland and overseas. SBI is the biggest player in the money and foreign exchange markets and the strike has tremendous impact on the call money and forex markets.

Bihar ties up with other banks

      Patna: The Bihar government has decided to tie up with the Canara Bank, Central Bank of India and Bank of India through the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its day-to-day transactions, as the State Bank of India (SBI) strike showed no signs of an end. Additional Finance Commissioner (Resources), Bihar Shashi Shekhar Sharma said that the decision to allow the transactions on behalf of the government through banks, other than the SBI, was taken after a meeting with RBI officials. ''This step has been taken to meet the exigencies arising out of the ongoing indefinite strike,'' Sharma said. Sharma said that the state government had decided to allow payment of salary and pension in cash, as per the requirement, through any of the three banks in cooperation with treasuries and sub-treasuries. The three banks have been requested to issue required guidelines to facilitate government transactions without any hassles and send information on payment status to the state government on everyday basis. The Finance Department had issued circulars to all district collectors and treasury officers in their respective field. The SBI strike entered its sixth day today. The Delhi unit of the United Forum of Bank Union (UFBU) has decided to hold a protest march to Parliament on April 10, to extend their support to the strikers. The ongoing strike, besides affecting the day-to-day banking operations at over 9,000 branches across the country, has impacted the account holders, particularly pensioners. The SBI employees resorted to the strike to press for immediate revision of individual and family pension ceiling to 50 percent of last drawn salary.

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