Mumbai, Dec 9: The Indian Bank Association (IBA) has succeeded in breaking the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) and managed to seal the seventh bipartite wage settlement with 2.5-lakh bank officers on Thursday even as staff unions are fighting it out with the management body. The formal signing of the wage pact--the MoU which was signed with the nine-bank union forum UFBU on March 11--will take place on December 14.The annual burden on the banking industry on account of the 12.25 per cent hike will be Rs 579 crore.
The last bipartite wage settlement expired on November 1, 1997. However, the new wage pact--perhaps the last industrywide wage pact in the banking sector--will take effect from March 1, 1998. The managements of three weak banks--Indian Bank, UBI and Uco--are expected to negotiate with officers' bodies separately for implementation of the new wage pact.
Indian National Bank Officers' Congress leader KK Nair said the first phase of disbursement of arrears will be over before the month-end. After 11 rounds of wage negotiations for bank employees which dragged on for nine months, the IBA and the four officers' associations succeeded in settling the wage dispute within the framework of the MoU even as the staff unions are clamouring for a better deal.
The IBA on Wednesday had challenged the bank unions to `test the waters', implying that it was ready to face any attempt to bring the industry to a grinding halt in response to a strike called on by the three bank unions. IBA had blamed the unions for wanting to derail the negotiation process.
The MoU was signed by IBA and unions on March 11, 1999 before the Regional Labour Commissioner, Mumbai, wherein the bank unions and IBA had agreed to a 12.25 per cent all inclusive wage increase.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.