July 7 bank strike deferred to Aug 5

The proposed July 7 nationwide bank strike has been deferred to August 5 in view of the late beginning of the monsoon session of Parliament, the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), which is spearheading the strike call, said today.

"The UFBU met today in Chennai. Since the monsoon session of Parliament will begin from August 1 [instead of July], the proposed strike on July 7 is postponed to August 5," UFBU convener CH Venkatachalam said in a statement.

The UFBU is an umbrella body of the unions of all hues in the banking industry, which has given the strike call.

"We call upon all our units to continue the campaign meetings at various levels to make the August 5 strike a grand success," All-India Bank Employees Association general secretary Vishwas Utagi said in the release.

The unions have called for the one-day strike to protest against the government's decision to dilute its equity in the state-run banks, which they feel is tantamount to privatisation, and giving foreign investors additional voting rights in the domestic private sector banks.

"We are against any such activities being carried out under the garb of banking reforms. Over 10 lakh employees across the banking system will be going on strike," Utagi had said earlier.

The union is also claiming that employees from foreign and private banks would also participate in the strike. The government intends to increase the voting rights for foreign entities beyond the present 10% through an amendment to the Banking Regulation Act.

The unions are also against consolidation of the SBI Group by merging the five associate banks.