Strike hits banking services in Bengal, Kerala, Mumbai

The strike call given by leading trade unions today affected banking services in the Left-ruled states of West Bengal, Kerala and the country's financial capital, but elsewhere, banks functioned almost normally.

The All-India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) and Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), which are affiliated to Left-leaning trade unions, participated in the strike.

As many as eight central trade unions, including the CPI (M)-affiliated CITU and INTUC of the Congress, gave a call for a nationwide strike today against issues like price rise, the disinvestment policy of the government and "violation" of labour laws.

Nearly 5 lakh employees working in public sector banks, private banks and regional rural banks supported the strike call given by various trade unions, claimed AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatachalam.

There are about 10 lakh employees in the banking sector, working at 80,000 branches across the country.

Services like cash payments, deposits in branches, clearing, foreign exchange transactions, etc., were also affected, Vekatachalam claimed.

Banking services were hit badly in states like Left-ruled West Bengal and Kerala, reports received from these two states said.

Operations were by and large normal across the Delhi region, barring a few branches, a senior bank official said.

In the financial capital, Mumbai, operations were partially affected.

The country's largest lender, SBI, was, however, virtually unaffected, as well as private and foreign banks, where the association does not have a significant presence.

However, in banks where the AIBEA has strong support among employees, operations were marginally affected.

Officers of SBI and several other public sector banks did not participate in the strike, though their organisations extended "fraternal support" to their co-workers.

IDBI Bank Chairman and Managing Director R M Malla said that all branches of the bank were functioning and operations were not affected.

AIBEA Secretary Vishwas Utagi, however, claimed the strike was a "thundering success" across the country.

"It is a new chapter opened in the post-independent labour movement of our country wherein the entire working class -- organised and unorganised -- raised the voice of protest against the government's policy of liberalisation and privatisation," he said in a statement.