With the general elections only seven-eight months away and the proposed three-way merger between Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank – which may necessitate an offer of golden handshake for employees – the Finance Ministry is likely to ask the Indian Banks’ Association’s wage negotiation committee to hasten the 11th industry-wide wage settlement.

After the 10th industry-wide wage settlement had run its course, ending on October 31, 2017, there have been close to 10 rounds of negotiations between the bank unions and management, but not much headway could be made as there was a yawning gap between the salary hike demand and what was on offer.

Bankers are of the view that wage-settlement negotiations may have to be wrapped up before the Model Code of Conduct for the general elections kicks-in.

Branch rationalisation

Further, negotiations may gather steam as the merger between the three public sector banks could see massive branch rationalisation in Gujarat, which has been a favourite hunting ground for both Bank of Baroda and Dena Bank to grow business, resulting in surplus manpower. So, to make any voluntary retirement scheme attractive, it will need to be based on revised salaries.

In Gujarat, Bank of Baroda (BoB) has 1,000-odd branches, while Dena Bank has 650-odd branches. BoB and Dena Bank have about 18 per cent and 35 per cent of their total branch network in the Western State.

“Initially, we were offered 2 per cent hike in salary. In August, the management side made an offer of 6 per cent. The hike in the 10th bipartite wage settlement was 15 per cent. “So, the salary revision needs to higher than what it was in the last settlement. In the backdrop of the State and general elections, we expect the negotiations to be concluded before December 31, 2018,” said S Nagarajan, General Secretary, All India Bank Officers’ Association.

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