Bank staff on strike in pay dispute
MUMBAI: About one million Indian bank employees started a two-day nationwide strike yesterday after unions expressed dismay at the 2% salary increase workers were offered.
Disgruntled employees add to the challenges facing bank executives, who are under pressure to come to grips with the highest bad-loan ratios among major economies.
Loan writedowns have pressured earnings and capital ratios, limiting banks’ scope for offering generous pay increases in a nation where inflation reached 4.6% in April.
“This is ridiculous, it is the lowest salary hike offered to us ever,” said C.H. Venkatachalam, general secretary of the All India Bank Employees’ Association, which represents about 975,000 workers and is organizing the strike.
“All bankers in this country cannot be penalised for the bad lending decisions taken by some of the top management,” he said.
“The Indian Banks Association, which represents lenders, has turned a deaf ear
to demands for bigger pay increases,’’ Venkatachalam said.
Salary raises for bank workers are
negotiated every five years. The strike will affect all state-owned lenders and a few private banks.
V G Kannan, chief executive officer of the banks’ association, didn’t immediately return calls to his office.