SBI staff turn down FM's call to end strike

Talks between striking SBI employees and the government have reached a stalemate, with employee unions rejecting Finance Minister P Chidambaram's appeal to call off their agitation.

"The strike will continue and till the time an agreement is reached on their demand for higher pension," GD Nadaf, secretary, Association of State Bank of India Officers' Federation said.

The unions termed Chidambaram's appeal as meaningless, saying he should give an assurance first that the government would accept any agreement between the management and the unions.

Earlier, speaking in Bangalore, Chidambaram said the unions had on Wednesday presented a modified version of their demands and the management had suggested that it needed time to consider it.

"The discussion will go on and a solution would be found. There is no need to inconvenience the people by continuing the strike," he said.

With the strike reaching its fifth day, SBI's ATMs across the country are going dry. In case of central government employees posted in Jammu and Kashmir, their salary cheques are held up in various bank branches.

"My salary for the month of March is still held up as the SBI employees are on strike," said Anwar Ahmed, an employee of Doordarshan Kendra, Srinagar.

The nationwide indefinite strike, launched to press for revision of pension ceiling, has completely paralysed functioning of the bank. There was a huge loss to customers of other commercial banks also with closure of clearing houses. Cheques worth several thousand crores remained uncleared.