Bank strike partially impacts services

Trade unions had given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28-29 to protest against the govt policies affecting workers, farmers, and people. Bank unions are protesting against the govt move to privatise two public sector banks as announced in Budget 2021-22

New Delhi: Central trade unions on Monday began a two-day nationwide strike to protest against the government's alleged wrong policies that are affecting farmers, workers and people. Banking services were partially impacted on Monday as a section of bank employees did not report for duty in support of the two-day nationwide general strike called by central trade unions.

Talking to PTI Amarjeet Kaur, General Secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), said, "The two-day nationwide strike by the joint forum of central trade unions has begun this morning". About the impact of the agitation, she said that the entire coal belt (mining area) is affected in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. She also said that there is a good response in industrial areas of Assam, Haryana, Delhi, West Bengal, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bihar, Punjab, Rajasthan, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The AITUC official noted that the banks and insurance sectors are affected all over India, while steel and oil sectors are also seeing partial impact due to the strike. Kaur said that she has got preliminary reports that markets are closed in Odisha.

However, there was hardly any impact on the functioning of new generation private sector banks. Transactions at many public sector banks have been impacted as employees have not reported for duty. Besides, there might be a delay in cheque clearances and government treasury operation might also be affected by the strike. The impact of the strike is prominent in eastern India as many branches of public sector banks there are closed, All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) General Secretary C H Venkatachalam said. In the other regions, branches are open as officers are present but services are being impacted due to many employees participating in the strike, he said. Bank unions are protesting against the government move to privatise two public sector banks as announced in Budget 2021-22. They are also demanding an increase in interest rate on deposits and reduction in service charges. Besides AIBEA, Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) and All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA) are also part of the two-day strike call given by the joint forum of central trade unions and various sectoral independent trade unions to protest against government's anti-people economic policies and anti-worker labour policies. Most of the banks, including State Bank of India (SBI), had informed their customers about the proposed strike and likely impact on the services in advance.

Workers of NMDC went on a complete strike at its mine in Bacheli and Bhilai Steel Plant employees also refrained from working, AITUC said. As many as 10 central trade unions (CTUs) have joined hands to go on a two-day nationwide strike from Monday. About 20 crore workers are expected to join the strike. The strike notices have been given by the unions in various sectors, such as coal, steel, oil, telecom, postal, income tax, copper, banks and insurance, among others. The unions in railways and defence sector are making mass mobilisation in support of the strike at several hundred spots, the joint forum had said earlier.