May come under govt pay panel

800,000 employees may be brought under 7th Pay Commission purview as Iba-union talks drag

NEW DELHI: Even after several rounds of talks between bank employee unions and the Indian Banks Association (IBA), there seems to be no consensus on the quantum of salary hike for over 800,000 employees at different public sector lenders.

While the IBA has indicated that the maximum hike that can be offered to employees is about 11%, unions are demanding a 25% raise.

With the stalemate still continuing, sources said a proposal could also be considered to bring them under the purview of the Seventh Pay Commission, which has already been constituted. A large section of bank employees are, however, unwilling to do the same.

“There needs to be an end to the stalemate and this is an option that has also come up,” an official source who refused to be identified said.

IBA chairman, TM Bhasin,

however, told HT that there was no proposal to bring bank employees under the purview of the pay commission. “IBA has no such consideration and no proposal has come to the IBA,” he said.

“There have been some reports of bringing the bank employees under the purview of the pay commission but we are completely opposed to such a move,” said CH Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees Association.

The salary revision of bank employees is due since November 2012.

Unions meanwhile have threatened to go on a strike on November 12. There could even be an indefinite strike thereafter if the issue is not addressed, union representatives said.

A senior bank executive said the issue of wage settlement would have to be sorted at the earliest and the finance ministry could intervene to ensure that the deadlock comes to an end.

“At a time, when the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is underway and targets have to be met, there is little scope to lose time,” he said.