State Bank of India [Get Quote] officers reported for work on Friday after deferring a plan to strike work and giving the management two weeks to accept their demands that included recruitment of more staff.

"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.

The federation had called the all-India strike demanding recruitment of adequate number of officers and clerical staff in branches and withdrawal of "harsh punishments for minor offences."

The officers also alleged that the bank's management took major decisions without consulting the federation.

While he did not divulge the details of the negotiations, Dighule said the management had agreed to consider the officers' demands "sympathetically."

"Our demands remain, we have only deferred our strike," Dighule noted.

SBI chairman and managing director O P Bhatt, who is currently abroad, is expected to take a final call on the officers' demand after returning home.