Central Bank employees call off strike

The employees of Central Bank of India have called off their indefinite strike beginning tomorrow following an agreement between the bank management and unions. The bank has agreed to withdraw chargesheets issued to 7,000 employees for refusing to hand over the keys of cash rooms to the management during a one-day strike on January 22, 2007.

The United Forum of Bank Unions has also withdrawn its call for a one-day all-India strike, which was to be held on February 23 by 10 lakh employees and officers to show support to employees of the Central Bank. The management and United Forum of Central Bank Unions signed the minutes for settlement last night.

The finance and labour ministries had intervened to end the strife as the Centre did not want the agitation to escalate into a crisis, an official of the All India Bank Employees' Association said. "We will not pursue legal action on assurance given by employees that in case they go on strike in the future, they will give keys of the cash rooms to the management," said K Subbaraman, the bank's executive director.

There had also been disputes over the management's right to transfer employees based on business needs and planning. "We will hear what the employees and unions have to say, but the final right on transfer rests with the management," Subbaraman said.

The management had dispensed with the practice of bilateral discussions and had resorted to adopting unilateral decisions on staff-related matters, instead of concentrating on business development with staff co-operation, the AIBEA said.

The bank's business had not been impacted much by the employee agitation, claimed Subbaraman, and said that year-on-year the credit grew by 25 per cent, while deposit growth was around 15 per cent at the end of December 2006.