Bank Unions have called in a strike to protest against the proposed privatization of, and “retrograde banking reforms” today and tomorrow after remaining closed on Saturday and Sunday. It is likely to witness the participation of 10 lakh bank employees.
Consumers remained on the receiving end as prime banking operations remained inaccessible after the UFBU (Union Forum of Bank Unions) announced the commencement of the strike. 9 bank unions have been impacted by this strike as they are under the UFBU.
Customers looking for deposits, withdrawals in bank branches, cheque clearances, loan approvals, and others are expected to get affected in light of the strike. Private sector players including ICICI bank, Axis Bank, and HDFC bank will be open for business as they have opted out of the protest.
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However, this isn’t expected to affect ATMs and they will remain operational across India.
Other state-run banks like the Central Bank of India have sent notices to their customers, asking them to use their internet banking services and ATMs for their needs during these days.
General Secretary of All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) CH Venkatachalam said money and stock markets will have payment issues because of the strike.
The entire ruckus began with the announcement of the Budget by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman when she also spoke about the privatization of 2 public sector banks under the Centre’s plans to generate Rs. 1.75 lakh crore.
In a similar move, the IDBI bank has already been changed to a private entity by the government as it sold the major chunk of its shares to LIC (Life Insurance Corporation) back in 2019. In the past 4 years, the Centre also merged 14 public sector banks.
In the Budget announcement, the minister went ahead to propose the divestment of a general insurance company and added that all of these will be implemented by the end of 2022’s financial year, including Air India and LIC IPO.
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All the unions of 4 General Insurance Companies are set to sit on strike on March 17th while those in LIC will go on a protest on March 18th. The unions of 4 insurance companies declared the strike against the announcement regarding the privatization of public companies.
UFBU’s members who called for the strike in view of the Budget announcement are All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA), Bank Employees Confederation of India (BEFI), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) and National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE). The other names include the Indian National Bank Officers Congress (INBOC), National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO), Indian National Bank Employees Federation (INBEF), and the National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW).
