Udupi: With the demand for the fulfilment of various of its demands, the All-India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) has called for a nationwide bank strike on Dec 21st, informed Shashidhar Shetty, Syndicate Bank Officials National President.

The Confederation is demanding for a better pay and calling off the proposed merger of Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank.

The AIBOC strike call was issued after the confederation walked out of bipartite negotiations with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), demanding full mandate for scale I to scale VII officers, introduction of five-day work week, salary revision according to the charter of demands and a defined benefit pension payment scheme unlike the NPS. It is also opposing the IBA’s offer to discuss the issue of wage revision of officers up to scale III with the Officers Associations.

Bank mergers will eventually lead to a decline in job opportunities, youth unemployment, lack of systematic job profiles with huge pendency of disparate work processes among merged banks and entities and a huge NPAs, claims the United Forum of Bank Unions’ (UFBU), an umbrella body of the top nine bank unions which has also given a strike call on December 26th.