As per report about a lakh employees of 22 state run and affiliated banks in Karnataka participated in the nationwide two day strike called by bank employees' trade unions to press for wage revision and other benefits, a trade union official said on Wednesday.
All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) General Secretary Y. Sudarshan told IANS in Bengaluru told "The response to our strike call has been total as about one lakh bank employees, including officers, are staying away from work across the state in support of our demands, especially wage revision". Meanwhile about 8,000 employees, including 2,000 women, participated in a two hour demonstration in the city centre to protest against the "indifference" of the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) to their demands.
Media reports added that there are about 10,000
bank branches across the state, including 3,000 in and around Bengaluru, with
the State Bank of India (SBI) accounting for 1,000 of them after it merged its
associate banks like SBM and SBH with it recently. He said "There has been
no progress on our talks with the IBA and the government through the Labor
Commissioner, as the representatives of the banks' apex body are unwilling to
increase their offer for 2% hike, which is a pittance and not
acceptable to us at any cost."
