Banks on 2-day nation-wide strike from today: Here's how it will affect you

The two-day nationwide bank strike on May 30 and 31 will hit banking operations and might lead to cash-crunch across the country

Employees and officers of various public sector banks across the country are on a two-day strike starting today to protest a nominal 2 per cent wage hike offered by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA).

The strike is expected to hit bank customers hard as it may disrupt month-end salary credit operation. Further, the strike could trigger a country-wide cash crunch as ATMs of most banks would not be replenished in the next two-days. Several ATMs might even remain closed during the strike as security guards employed in these ATMs are also likely to participate in the protest. 

Owing to the strike, operations such as clearing of cheques, money transfer, cash remittances, and deposit and withdrawals at branches will not be possible in the next two days.

Why are bank unions protesting:

The United Forum of Banking Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine bank unions, has demanded early wage review settlement, sufficient increase in salary and improvement in other service conditions and wage revision settlement for all officers up to scale VII.

In the last wage revision in 2012, which was for the period between November 1, 2012, and October 31, 2017, bank employees got a 15 per cent wage hike and AIBOC Joint General Secretary Ravinder Gupta said the unions were expecting a better salary increase this time.

"We had requested the IBA to come up with a better offer than the mere two per cent hike offer made earlier," said C H Venkatachalam, General Secretary of AIBEA, one of the bank union participating in the strike. 

"We also asked the IBA not to delink the wage negotiations for bank officers in the Scales 4-7. The IBA did not do anything," he added.

Some banks to remain unaffected

According to reports, some banks, mostly private sector banks, will not be impacted by the strike.

ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, YES Bank and IndusInd Bank are some of the banks that will continue regular operations.