Panaji: The Goa State Cooperative Bank (GSCB) staff rejected the 5% salary hike offered by the management and has threatened to go on a two-day strike to press for their higher wages.
The GSCB employees and officers’ unions want a 15% hike in salaries effective from January 2014, which the bank has rejected so far.
Wage revision for the bank employees has been pending since January 2014 due to bank’s recurring losses. GSCB has offered a 5% wage revision effective from 2021, but the employees are in no mood to listen.
Employees and senior officers of GSCB staged a protest on Saturday, demanding that the state’s apex cooperative bank should agree to their demands or run the risk of a two-day shutdown.
Speaking to the media after their protest, employees said that the cooperative bank’s board of directors have been giving several excuses and ignoring the demands of the employees.
“We have a few demands, the main being hikes that have been stalled since January 2014, should be released immediately. We hope that they agree to our demands soon. We have been asking them several times, we have met them too but they have ignored us always,” said a staffer Chandranand Naik.
Faced with accumulated losses worth more than Rs 67 crore, Goa State Cooperative Bank took several corrective steps, including a freeze on recruitment and wage hikes and reduction of administrative costs.
Due to the efforts of a three-member administrative committee led by chartered accountant VB Prabhu Verlekar, the bank began to post profits in 2017-18.
“There has been a long delay in settlement of our wage demands. Goa State Cooperative Bank has been making profits since 2018 and is also likely to recruit new employees, but existing employees and officers have not got any wage revision,” said an officer of the bank.
The GSCB employees and officers’ unions want a 15% hike in salaries effective from January 2014, which the bank has rejected so far.
Wage revision for the bank employees has been pending since January 2014 due to bank’s recurring losses. GSCB has offered a 5% wage revision effective from 2021, but the employees are in no mood to listen.
Employees and senior officers of GSCB staged a protest on Saturday, demanding that the state’s apex cooperative bank should agree to their demands or run the risk of a two-day shutdown.
Speaking to the media after their protest, employees said that the cooperative bank’s board of directors have been giving several excuses and ignoring the demands of the employees.
“We have a few demands, the main being hikes that have been stalled since January 2014, should be released immediately. We hope that they agree to our demands soon. We have been asking them several times, we have met them too but they have ignored us always,” said a staffer Chandranand Naik.
Faced with accumulated losses worth more than Rs 67 crore, Goa State Cooperative Bank took several corrective steps, including a freeze on recruitment and wage hikes and reduction of administrative costs.
Due to the efforts of a three-member administrative committee led by chartered accountant VB Prabhu Verlekar, the bank began to post profits in 2017-18.
“There has been a long delay in settlement of our wage demands. Goa State Cooperative Bank has been making profits since 2018 and is also likely to recruit new employees, but existing employees and officers have not got any wage revision,” said an officer of the bank.
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