SBI strike to continue, conciliation process fails

State Bank of India employees and the Government failed to reach an agreement on their demand for higher pension.

State Bank of India employees and the Government failed to reach an agreement on their demand for higher pension, even as the indefinite strike by the unions entered the third day on Wednesday.

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A conciliation meeting, called by Chief Labour Commissioner SK Mukhopadhyay, could not arrive at any solution as a Union Finance Ministry representative did not turn up for the second round of talks after the meeting was adjourned in the morning.

The union representatives dispersed after waiting for over two hours for Alok Bhatnagar, director in the Banking Division of the Finance Ministry.

"The strike will continue tomorrow. We were keen on discussion. But there was no proposal from the government side," All India SBI Staff Federation General Secretary Prafullo Patnaik said after the meeting.

The unions have submitted their proposal on pension at the meeting, held in the morning, after which it was adjourned for later part of the day to give time to government and management representatives to study the proposal.

The SBI employees are demanding, among other things, 50 per cent of last drawn salary as pension.

The agitating SBI employees refused to suspend their nationwide stir during a hearing of the matter by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday.