Senior leaders of two bank trade unions, which are part of the United Forum of Bank Unions, on Thursday met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seeking his intervention in the ongoing negotiations between the Indian Banks Association and the unions over wage increase. The meeting, held in the Finance Minister’s office in New Delhi, was ahead of Friday’s conciliation meeting called by the Chief Labour Commissioner to avert the four-day all-India strike announced by UFBU. The strike is scheduled to begin on February 25.

CH Venkachalam, general secretary of All-Indian Bank Employees Association, told BusinessLine that the delegation had impressed upon the Minister the need to substantially raise the IBA’s offer of 13 per cent increase in monthly wages of staff of the banks. A memorandum listing all demands of the unions was presented to Jaitley. The Minister had said he would ask senior officials to find an acceptable solution to the wage increase issue, Venkatachalam pointed out.

The delegation included Rajen Nagar and Venkatachalam, AIBEA president and general secretary; and S.S.Shisodia and S. Nagarajan, president and general secretary of All-India Bank Officers Association.

The IBA team and the UFBU leaders would be meeting each other in the presence of the CLC in New Delhi on Friday. The CLC called the meeting against the backdrop of the UFBU’s scheduled four-day strike from February 25 which is likely to seriously disrupt banking transactions and financial service across the country. UFBU has warned that it would go on an indefinite strike from March 16 if the IBA did not come up with a substantial hike in its offer.

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