Bank employees seek pay revision

Vijayawada: As part of the nation-wide bandh call given by various unions, the employees of nationalised banks observed 24-hours strike in Vijayawada city on Friday. The employees boycotted duties and the bank branches remained closed.

The employees and leaders of employees’ unions arrived to banks as usual and staged protests in support of their demands. The bank branches at various important centres including Benz Circle, Besant Road, MG Road, One Town and Mogulrajapuram were kept closed.

Due to the stir, majority of bank services were affected, while several private banks continued their operations as usual. The employees raised slogans against the Union government for its failure in payment of revised pay-scales and they displayed placards. Large number of employees staged protest at SBI main branch near Pushpa Hotel Centre. Several ATMs in the city also became defunct.

On this occasion, State Bank of India Officers Association vice-president C Surya Narayana said that pay revision should have been made in November, 2017, but the Union Government is not responding on it. He said that over 3.20 lakh bank officers, working in 20 nationalised banks, took part in the one-day strike.

The AIBOC State leaders YD Satyanarayana, KNV Prasad said that the bank officers were opposing the merger of banks. They said that amalgamation of banks would force closure of branches. The bank employees would observe again national wide strike on December 26, if the government fails to revise the pay scales, they added.