Strike opposing PSU bank mergers successful: AIBEA

Basic banking services like cash withdrawals and deposits were hit on Wednesday as six bank unions joined the strike called by CITU to protest against the government's policies. A senior bank association official said 5 lakh bank employees joined the strike to press for their demands alongside supporting the general strike.

"The strike was successful, all over reports have come, 5 lakh of employees and officers of the PSU banks , Reserve Bank, some private banks, cooperative banks and regional rural banks and general insurance unions, LIC have joined the strike. We are supporting the CITU 14-point demands like minimum wages and in addition we are telling from our banking industry side to the government that "Don't privatise the banks, don't go for the merger of the banks which is suicidal, take stringent measures to recover the bad loans, don't keep on giving concessions to the defaulters and fill up the vacancies are our special demands", C H Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) told .

"The experience of two previous mergers SBI with own 5 associate banks resulted in the closure or merger of 7,000 branches and Bank of Baroda (which has Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with it via merger) now says up to 2,000 branches are overlapping and they are needed to be closed.

"Reduction of branches means more work in the same branch where customer services will suffer, area-wise also there will be inconveniences for the public to go to far off branches if branches are closed.

"People want bank branches nearby. Banks with higher financial resources after merger will tend to neglect retail banking and will only go for big corporates," he added.

While basic front-end banking services like cheque clearing, deposit services were impacted on Wednesday across the country in varying degrees, netbanking services were least affected.

The RBI has made online NEFT transfers a round-the-clock process and also waived charges. But ATM services might get affected at some places.

India's largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI), had earlier said it expects only minimal impact due to the strike as only a few of its employees are part of the striking unions.

Other major PSU lenders like the Bank of Baroda had also issued warnings of operations getting affected at both its branches and offices.

Ten central trade unions had said on Monday that around 25 crore people will participate in a nationwide strike on January 8 to protest against the government's "anti-people" policies.

Trade unions INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF, UTUC along with various sectoral independent federations and associations had adopted a declaration in September last to go on a nationwide strike on January 8.

"Bank unions are joining the CITU called strike not just in solidarity with their counterparts in other sectors but also to protest against banking reforms and mega merger of PSU banks. They are also demanding a pay hike besides a uniform 5-day week. The demands include a halt in the merger process of 12 public sector banks, no disinvestment and strategic sales of the central public sector units and bar on employing contract workers for perennial nature of work."

Various bank employee associations, including All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA), Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), Indian National Bank Employees' Federation (INBEF), Indian National Bank Officers Congress (INBOC) and Bank Karmachari Sena Mahasangh (BKSM), had expressed their willingness to participate. Six bank unions have gone on strike, affecting ATM and branch services.

However, SBI and Syndicate Bank has assured smooth operation. Several banks have already informed stock exchanges about the strike and its impact on banking services.The central government, in the meantime, has asked all public sector undertakings to dissuade their employees from participating in Bharat Bandh.

Employees sitting on strike or even protest have been threatened with consequences like deduction of wages and even a disciplinary action.

( With inputs from IANS )