NEW DELHI: The bank unions are seeking to rework their ongoing negotiations with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) over the proposed big banks merger proposed by the government recently.
“Negotiation on the wage was already on. But the terms and conditions agreed upon was before the merger. Post-merger, there will be new issues and it will be required to be fine-tuned. For example, a large part of the salary is variable pay; how will they calculate it? This is tricky and the boards should keep in loop the staff before arriving at the terms and conditions,” a member of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) said.
So far, the meeting could not decide on the hike issue. While the unions were asking for a 20 per cent hike, the IBA stuck has to 10 per cent. The unions, which met on Wednesday, will decide on the next course of action at their next meet on September 20.
The unions have decided to oppose the merger and give a memorandum to the Finance Ministry at the next meeting. “We have decided to oppose the merger and give a memorandum to the Finance Ministry on September 20,” the UFBU member added.
After the last meeting between the IBA and UFBU on August 29 in Mumbai, a sub-committee headed by State Bank of India’s deputy managing director Prashant Kumar was set up, to look into the fine points.
“Evaluation of staff is another issue. The unions claim that there has to be common performance criteria for employees. For instance, while a staffer may have been a top performer at his branch ahead of merger, the standards will be different at the new bank,” the member said.