Bank strike kicks off; Salary withdrawal, ATMs to face impact

In a nationwide strike starting Wednesday, the Public sector bank (PSB) employees will be taking up a two-day-long strike -May 30, 31.

Called by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), the strike is to protest against the two percent salary hike proposed by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA).

The bank unions who are not convinced with the two percent wage hike have kicked off the strike with nearly one million bank employees staging the protests at 6 AM on Wednesday.

As per the reports, even the ATM security guards are set to participate in the protest. Due to this, cash withdrawals can face an impact particularly with the month-end salary credits expected on Thursday.

While the bank officials assured to replenish ATMs before the strike, the worry arises in the form of whether ATMs can be filled with cash again by private service providers after the heavy month-end withdrawals.

The UFBU, a parent body of bank unions, including National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA) and Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) has put forth the demands - early wage review settlement, improvement in other service conditions, wage revision settlement for all officers up to scale VII and sufficient increase in salary.

The latest round of wage revision for all banks is due from 1 November 2017. However, citing poor financial conditions at banks, the IBA this month refused to revise wages for all officers.