Govt to consider SBI staff demand 'sympathetically': KCR

Hyderabad, Apr 3: Even as 2.5 lakh employees and officers of the public sector State Bank of India (SBI) struck work across the country today following failure of conciliatory talks between the Unions and the Chief Labour Commissioner, Union Labour Minister K Chandrasekara Rao said the United Progressive Alliance government would consider the employees demand sympathetically.

Meanwhile, striking employee union sources claimed that Reserve Bank of India as also the Indian Banks Association had cleared the proposal for hike in pension of SBI employees, pending for 14 years.

"The ball is now in the court of Finance Minister P Chidambaram." While other bank employees pension was revised during the two bipartite wage revisions, the ceiling on SBI employees pension imposed in 1992 had not been removed as the Union Finance Ministry had not cleared the proposal yet. The condition of those drawing family pension was pathetic as even the widow of an executive like the Chief General Manager would not be able to get more than Rs 1000 per month, the sources said.

UNI