Date:08/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/08/stories/2007060820051400.htm

National

SBI officers defer strike by two weeks

Mumbai: State Bank of India officers deferred by two weeks their proposed strike on Friday following negotiations with the management on Thursday.

"We have deferred our strike, giving the management two more weeks time to settle our demands," P.V. Dighule, General Secretary of the State Bank Officers' Association, and vice-president, All-India SBI Officers' Federation, told PTI here.

Mr. Dighule said the management had agreed to consider their demands "sympathetically."

"Our demands remain, we have only deferred our strike," he said.

SBI Chairman and Managing Director O.P. Bhatt is abroad and final touches to the negotiations are expected to be given after his return.

The All-India State Bank of India Officers' Federation had called the strike to protest against the management's "non-implementation" of the memorandum of understanding signed in December 2005.

The main demands centred around recruitment of adequate number of officers and clerical staff and withdrawal of "harsh punishments for minor offences." — PTI