Public Sector Banks Closed on 2nd Day of Strike Against Privatisation
On the second day of the strike, unions holding a protest at Jantar-mantar, New Delhi. | Image Credit: Mukund Jha and Ronak Chhabra
New Delhi: The bank strike continued for day-2 on Tuesday, March 16, led by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine unions of public sector banks in the country, opposing government's policy to privatise the lenders.
The services that were impacted include cash withdrawals, deposits, cheque clearances and remittance services. Government transactions related to treasury as well as business transactions will also be impacted.
The UFBU had given a strike call for March 15 and 16 against the government’s move to privatise two state-owned lenders.
The members of UFBU include All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA) and Bank Employees Confederation of India (BEFI).
Others are the Indian National Bank Employees Federation (INBEF), Indian National Bank Officers Congress (INBOC), National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) and National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO).
Unions on Monday said nearly 10 lakh staffers across the country have participated in the strike, terming it a "success".
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Union Budget speech for 2021-22 said the government will privatise two more public sector banks going forward.
The government has already privatised IDBI Bank by selling its majority stake in the lender to LIC in 2019, and has merged 14 public sector banks in the last four years.
As per the call, on Monday, employees and officers joined the strike and the strike was a “total success”. Normal banking services were affected because of the strike, C H Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA said.
“Today (Tuesday) too, as per reports received by us from our unions in various states, the strike has been successful. Overwhelming majority of the bank branches remain closed and shutters are down," he added.
He said the young employees have been in the forefront in the protest demonstrations which means that they have understood the dangers of privatisation.
They have joined the banks after a very tough competition. They deserve job security which will be affected if banks are privatised. He said banks are in profit and there is no need to privatise them.
All the public sector banks are running well and are earning operating profits, he noted.
Rahul Gandhi Backs Bank Strike
Taking a dig at the government, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that selling public sector banks to "cronies" will compromise the country's financial security.
He also accused the government of "privatising profit" and "nationalising loss".
"Government of India (GOI) is privatising profit and nationalising loss. Selling PSBs to Modi cronies gravely compromises India's financial security," Gandhi tweeted.
The Congress leader also expressed solidarity with the protesting bank employees, who are on a two-day strike against alleged privatisation of public sector banks.
"I stand in solidarity with the striking bank employees," he said on Twitter.
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