PSU bank employees to go on strike tomorrow

However, private sector banks and country's largest lender SBI will continue to function normally

A section of public sector banks' employees will observe one-day strike across the country tomorrow to protest violation of bilateral settlement agreement by associate banks of State Bank of India (SBI).

However, officer grade of employees will not take part in the strike called by All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA), one of the nine employee organisations of public sector banks.

Private sector banks and country's largest lender SBI will continue to function normally.

As precautionary measures, most of the banks, including United Bank of India, has issued advisory to their customers saying they will take all necessary steps in terms of existing guidelines for smooth functioning of branches or offices on the day of strike, in the event it materialises on January 8.

The strike call was given on December 28 to protest violation of the bilateral settlement by five associate banks of the SBI and their attempt to force unilateral service conditions on the employees, AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatachalam said.

Five subsidiaries of SBI are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur.

In May 2015, a common settlement was signed between Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and AIBEA and it defines the duties and remuneration of employees for undertaking various jobs in the banks, he said.

The five associate banks are parties to this settlement and hence are governed by the settlement, and service conditions cannot be changed by management unilaterally, Venkatachalam said.