Bank unions announce 48-hr strike on Mar 23-24

Vijayawada: The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) comprising nine major bank unions across the country representing more than eight lakh employees and officers in public sector banks, private sector banks, foreign banks, cooperative banks and regional rural banks, announced here on Monday that they would go on strike for 48 hours commencing from the midnight of March 23.

UFBU general secretary VSR Sekhar along with other of-fice-bearers addressing the media here on Monday stated that there had been terrific shortage of employees in all cadres making it difficult for them to extend service to the bank customers. In 2013, there used to be 3.98 lakh clerks and 1.53 lakh sub-staff in the banks which came down to 2.46 lakh clerks and 94,000 sub-staff in 2024 re-sulting in tremendous workload on the existing staff.

Sekhar said that for the last more than a decade the banks did not recruit adequate staff. There is acute shortage of staff in all the branches and they are not in a position to extend satisfactory service to the customers. The public sector banks which are implementing the government schemes are not provided with sufficient staff to serve the customers.

The Bbnk unions demanded implementation of five-day work in banking industry, immediate withdrawal of gov-ernment and department of financial services directives on performance review which threaten job security, create di-vision and discrimination among employees and officers. They also demanded safety of bank officers against the assault and abuses by unruly banking public; amend Gra-tuity Act to increase the ceiling to Rs 25 lakh; maintain a minimum of 51 per cent of equity capital in IDBI Bank by the government; stop outsourcing permanent jobs in banks; and stop unfair practices in banking industry.