Bangalore: The State Bank of India management and its two unions representing officers and staff are negotiating under the aegis of the Labour Commissioner on a ``modified version of the demands'' put forth by the employees to end the indefinite strike launched on Monday.

Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday urged the employees to resume duty as there was ``no justification'' for inconveniencing the public.

``At a conciliatory meeting convened by the Labour Commissioner in New Delhi on Wednesday, the unions presented a modified version of their demands. The management would take some time to consider these. The matter is under discussion. I would request SBI employees to resume duty. The discussions would go on and a solution would be found. There is no need to continue with the strike,'' Mr. Chidambaram told reporters here.

Over 2.1 lakh employees comprising both officers and employees working in about 9,000 branches across the country are on strike demanding revision of the pension scheme. The strike has disrupted normal operations, besides affecting clearing operations, money market and foreign exchange transactions as the SBI is a major player in these sectors.

Mr. Chidambaram said it was ``inappropriate'' to set a time-frame for a settlement. ``The management and unions are in negotiations under the aegis of the Labour Commissioner. It is inappropriate to set a time-frame for concluding the discussions. But, there is no justification at all to inconvenience the public,'' he said.

He said historically there was a difference between the retirement benefits of SBI and PSU employees. ``SBI employees get three benefits as part of their retirement benefits. These are gratuity, contributory provident fund and pension. This is in contrast to PSU employees who get two benefits. Therefore, historically, there is a difference between the two,'' he said.

The crux of the dispute relates to an agreement on pension benefits signed in 2002 between the management and the All-India State Bank Officers' Federation representing officers and the All-India State Bank of India Staff Federation representing staff. ``The two federations are now saying that there were anomalies in the agreement signed in 2002 when the NDA Government was in power," he added.

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