SBI employees stage dharna to protest management policies

Kolkata, Mar 17 (UNI) More than 3,000 employees of State Bank of India (SBI) today staged a dharna in front of their Regional Head office here to protest the bank management's alleged anti-employees policies.

Called by the State Bank of India Staff Association, today's day long dharna was organised in every state not only to protest the SBI management's recent decision of outsourcing a large number of jobs, but also to press for their demand for rationalisation of overtime work and review of clean note policy.

Incidentally, the Association has also called a one day nationwide strike in all SBI offices and branches on March 28 if the management failed to meet their demands by then.

Addressing the gathering, All India SBI Staff Association General Secretary Ashok Dutta and several other leaders threatened to intensify their agitation if the bank management refused to meet the demands.

" Since all our attempts to settle the issues amicably had failed, the Association members had no option but to resort to the strike," Mr Dutta said and indicated that they might even consider to go for an indefinite strike in the bank at the national level if the management continued to act adamantly.

However, today's dharna in the city passed off peacefully with the staff Association members shouting slogans during the entire office hours.

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