Officers and employees of IDBI Bank, a government-owned bank, have decided to resume strike/non-strike action over the pending wage revision issue that has defied a solution after 1,878 days, and counting.
The United Forum of IDBI Officers and Employees will spearhead the proposed action, say Vithal Koteswara Rao and Ratnakar Wankhade, joint convenors.
Rao is general secretary of the All-India IDBI Officers Association (AIIDBIOA) while Wankhade holds the same capacity with the All-India IDBI Employees Association (AIIDBEA).
Employees and officers of IDBI Bank are not party to industry-level wage settlement periodically reached between Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU).
There has been an unconscionable delay in the settlement of wages that fell due from November 1, 2012. Repeated efforts and entreaties made by Associations from July 2016 have been to no avail.
The management has been largely indifferent to the issue despite all the time at its disposal till date. The Association leaders suspect that is ‘premeditated’ and ‘recalcitrant’ in its attitude.
This has created what they described as a trust deficit amongst the members, who are disillusioned with the handling of the most sensitive issue impacting the lives of the entire workforce.
Day-long dharna
This led them back to the agitation path. The day-long peaceful dharna planned for Friday in front of the bank’s head office in Mumbai would mark the beginning of this phase.
But participation is restricted to members of the general council of the AIIDBIOA and office members and committee members of AIIDBEA.
The action is being planned in a manner as not to disturb customer service and without causing damage to the assets of the bank.