"We have decided to go ahead with the all-India bank strike on January 12," said All India Bank Employees Association (Aibea) general secretary Tarakeswar Chakraborti.

Speaking to The Financial Express, All India Bank Officers Confederation (Aiboc) general secretary SR Sengupta said: "The IBA had given us a lot of hope at our previous meeting, but it has gone back on all the promises... The association is now resorting to threats of retrenchement and voluntary retirement schemes if the offer is not accepted."

The meeting was attended by IBA chairman AT Pannir Selvam, State Bank of India deputy managing director Y Radhakrishanan and theassociation secretary MN Dandekar among others.

In a related development, the Shiv Sena-affiliated Bank Karmachari Sena stormed into the IBA headquarters in Mumbai demanding representation at the wage negotiation table. IBA chairman met Sena leaders amid heavy police bandobast. The IBA management committee will discuss the issue at its next meeting on January 27.

"IBA should have clear cut policies on negotiations and should not entertain every other political body," said representatives of UFBU, adding that the Bank Karmachari Sena is a regional body with a miniscule presence and represents only a fraction of bank employees.

At the meeting with unions, IBA made it clear that it was in no position to raise the wage hike beyond 8 per cent. "With nine banks having an accumulated loss of Rs 9,000 crore, it is just not possible to offer more that 8 per cent (wage hike)," IBA secretary Dandekar said.

Pannir Selvam even suggested postponement of negotiations for another four months when the working resultsof all the banks for 1998-99 would be available "which would make the ground reality apparent why pay packet beyond 8 per cent would be considered unviable," an IBA release said.

The association also clarified that the question of payment of wages retrospectively from November 1997 does not arise.

With the talks breaking down, bank unions are bracing for a showdown while IBA is all set to launch an advertisement blitzkrieg attacking the one-day strike call. "We are ready for the war... The bankers' body will not succeed by threatening us. We will step up our agitation in due course," one union leader said.