Salary hike demand has been hanging fire for a very long time and it has raised anxiety levels among all concerned as there is no real example that can act as the template that will show the way forward when negotiations for pay hike finally do happen for central government employees. Unless, of course, Centre declares it by fiat where no negotiations are asked for. In such a vacuum, what is happening in other segments of the bureaucratic and financial system acquires importance. The current tussle that is in the news is between the Indian Banks Association (IBA) and bank employees unions. Staff has asked for a pay hike as high as 25%, but had earlier added this is negotiable. IBA, which represents bank management, will have none of it. It had offered just 2 percent, citing bank NPAs crisis to say it can't offer a greater pay hike to staff. Employees had replied that the problems were not created by them and that they have worked hard to implement government schemes such as Jan Dhan, demonetisation, Mudra and Atal Pension Yojana, among others.
