Govt-run banks' strike a success, say Unions

Services at around 80,000 bank branches in the country were hit on Friday as employees of public sector banks went on a one-day strike to protest the proposed merger of State Bank of India (SBI) associates with the parent and privatisation of public sector banks.

The strike affected services such as cheque clearances, cash deposit and withdrawal at branches and other facilities. The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine bank employees and officers unions representing 800,000 staffers, had made the call to strike.

"The strike has been a success with around one million bank employees and officers participating in it," said C H Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), adding that 2.6 million instruments worth Rs 20,000 crore were affected.

AIBEA and All India Bank Officers' Association will be holding a meeting on August 4 and 5 in Hyderabad to chalk out further campaign and protest programmes.

Most of the public sector banks including SBI had earlier informed their customers of inconvenience because of the strike.

"The All India State Bank Officers' Federation and the All India State Bank of India Staff Federation are members of UFBU. Thus, it is likely that the bank will also be impacted to some extent by the said strike calls," SBI had said earlier.

A conciliation meeting with the chief labour commissioner on July 26 did not yield any positive results. "The unions were ready for meaningful discussion, but the government only tried to justify their present policy decision on banking reforms and hence, there was no meeting point," Venkatachalam added.

Unions, which are protesting foreign direct investment in the banking sector, are pressing for various demands, which include one not to privatise public sector banks and increase private capital in such banks, he said.

"The government wants to consolidate and merge 27 public sector banks to make them into some five or six big banks for the sake of global competition. There is no need for global competition by our banks. We need efficient banks and not necessarily big banks. Big banks don't automatically mean strong banks," an AIBEA statement said.

Bad loans to the tune of Rs 13 lakh crore, majority of which are due from corporates and business enterprises, remain to be recovered, it added.

"According to the Finance Minister, there are 8,167 willful defaulters, who owe banks a cumulative amount of Rs 76,685 crore. We should take criminal action against these deliberate defaulters. But, the government is showing velvet treatment to them by writing off their loans. It is open loot of public savings. This should be immediately stopped," said the association.