Bank strike complete

New Delhi, Oct 27: Employees of all nationalised, private and some foreign banks today went on one-day strike to protest the government's 'inaction' over their demands, which include option of pension, appointment on compassionate ground and stopping outsourcing.

The strike call given by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), comprising nine bank unions, comes after talks between them and Indian Bankers Association failed on any type of assurance on their demands, UFBU Convenor V K Gupta said.

''We tried our best to prevent or defer the strike. We were even ready for some sort of commitment from the IBA over time-bound assurance on our demands, but they did not even consider this proposal of ours. Following this we were forced to take this step.'' ''As a gesture we had even postponed our March 9 strike, on the assurance of the Chief Labour Commissioner but still they have failed to come to any conclusion,'' he said adding the 'proposal' was lying with the government for the last six months.

''This step has been taken after waiting for more than six months to get our grievances redressed.'' ''We demand that they restore 'compassionate appointments', extend the option to join pension scheme and stop outsourcing of retail banking services and permanent jobs in banks, among other things,'' he added.

UNI