Salary increase, the only burning issue - Bank TUs

A consultative committee meeting of chairmen of State Banks, top officials and trade union representatives at the Ministry of Finance ended with no results after trade union representatives said that their only burning issue was the delay in the salary increase.

The meeting was convened on the instructions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is also Minister of Finance to seek the views of the bank employees to strengthen the four state banks.

It was chaired by Deputy Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and Treasury Secretary Dr. P. B. Jayasundera. However, the bank unions did not speak on the hundreds of million rupees in default loans accumulated in the state banks, management issues, appointments or any other critical issues faced by the banks. Union leaders accused one another and demanded salary increases, service extensions after retirement and pensions.

After listening to the grievances of trade union leaders Dr. P. B. Jayasundera said that the government is not ready to extend the service of bank employees after they retire.

State banks need tech savvy young people to compete with private banks, he said. Dr. Jayasundera said that earlier this request came individually and now they come collectively from trade unions, because our population is old and 10% of the people are above 60 and this would be 20% after ten years.

Dr. Jayasundera said that the next demand would be the extension of service to 70 years. The salary increase of the state bank employees is under discussion and the Ministry seeks State Enterprise Management Agency (SEMA) consultation on the proposals, Dr. Jayasundera said.