Bank strike impacts clearance of instruments worth Rs 217 bn a day: union

85,000 branches shut operations on Wednesday; 3.9 million instruments remain unprocessed

Clearance of a total of 3.9 million instruments worth Rs 217 billion would have been affected on the first of the two-day all India strike declared by the nine bank employees' organisations, said C H Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA). The impact is expected to be similar on Thursday, the second day of the strike.

Venkatachalam said the strike has resulted in shut down of around 85,000 branches of public sector banks and some of the older private sector banks, on Wednesday. A total of 3.9 million instruments including cheques, demand drafts and others have not been processed by various banks during the day, he added.

Nine bank employees' organisations under the banner of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) have declared a 48-hour strike starting May 30, seeking the government's intervention on wage settlement and other issues. The unions together represent one million employees, and all members participated in the strike, Venkatachalam added.

The strike was declared opposing the Indian Banks'Association's (IBA) delay in resolving charter of demands, government's casual approach to wage revision for bank employees and officers, IBA's meagre offer of two per cent hike towards wage increase, among others.

The staff organisations have demanded expeditious and early wage revision settlement, adequate increase in salary and improvement in other service conditions. They also want wage revision settlement to include all officers up to Scale-VII.

The last wage settlement was signed for the period November 1, 2012 to October 31, 2017. The wage settlement for the period starting November 1, 2017 had been mooted by the unions to IBA, earlier. The Negotiation Committee of IBA has held talks with the unions five times between May and October, 2017, apart from hdiscussions with the sub-committees of workment unions and officers associations till November, 2017, but avoided the wage revision, the strike notice served by the unions alleges.

The organisations under the umbrella of UFBU include All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA), Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), 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).