The Hindu Business Line : SBI staff hold sit-in demonstration

The anti-labour environment that bank employees are increasingly being made to contend with at the workplace is largely the legacy of the new economic reforms being rolled out in the country, said Mr V. S. Achuthanandan, veteran Marxist and Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly.

Inaugurating a sit-in demonstration by officers and staff of the State Bank of India in front of the Local Head Office here on Monday, Mr Achuthanandan said he would request the good offices of the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, in taking up the demands raised by the SBI unions in order that they are settled without further delay.

The demonstration was staged as part of the indefinite strike launched countrywide by the unions demanding revision of the pension and family pension schemes pending for `quite some time'. Mr Achuthanandan pledged `wholehearted support' to the cause of the striking unions.

Among those who addressed the demonstrators were Mr John Joseph, General Secretary, and Mr K. Raja Kurup, President, State Banks' Staff Union; Mr S. Vinayachandran, President, SBI Officers' Association (SBIOA); Mr Jose T. Abraham and Mr Sivan Kutty. Mr M. Sreenath, General Secretary, SBIOA, administered the oath of solidarity to the demonstrators.

In their speech, the union leaders said that the pension scheme as it exists today had not changed much from what it looked like right back in year 1921 in the bank's earlier avatar as the Imperial Bank of India through 1955 when it was formerly re-christened as State Bank of India. The last time the pension scheme was tinkered with was 1992, along with the normal wage revision.

The striking employees later took out a procession around the city. Normal business at all branches of SBI in the State was affected. Clearing house transactions also came to grinding halt. Administrative and regional business offices were closed.

More Stories on : Trade & Labour Unions | Public Sector Banks | Kerala

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SBI staff hold sit-in demonstration