Date:09/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/06/09/stories/2007060902090600.htm

SBI officers' strike deferred

Our Bureau

Mumbai June 8 The All India State Bank Officers' Federation has deferred the countrywide strike scheduled for June 8 by two weeks.

"We have deferred the strike to avoid inconvenience to customers and also to give some time to the management to address our demands," said Mr G.D. Nadaf, General Secretary, State Bank of India.

The federation had called for a strike in protest against the "unilateral actions" by the management on issues such as promotion policy and outsourcing of core banking operations to private institutions. Mr Nadaf said, "A couple of our issues have already been resolved by the management. We wanted improvement in the reimbursement of labour charges and compensation for late sitting, which have been met. The management has also agreed to hold bipartite discussions with the federation." The federation officials are waiting for the arrival of Mr O.P. Bhatt, SBI Chairman and Managing Director, who is currently overseas, to address their demands. "We have a meeting scheduled on June 29 at Bhopal when we will review the situation," he added.