Bank Staff To Strike Work On July 4

Trade unions and officers associations of several public sector banks have blamed the policy of liberalisation and privatisation for incidents like the CRB Capital Markets scam and described them as a by-product of the policy.

Announcing their decision to go on a day-long token strike on July 4, nine bank unions and officers associations said here yesterday that not only were they opposed to the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) accepting deposits from the public, they would unanimously resist the establishment of local area private banks.

The strike, called under the banner of United Forum of Bank Unions, will cover 13 lakh employees and officers working in 80,000 branches throughout the country.

Claiming that the united action of so many unions and associations is a unique experiment, which has been forged on certain burning issues affecting the bank workforce as a whole, the union leaders listed their demands and urged the government accept them immediately.

The demands include implementation of pension settlement in private banks, withdrawal of clause in pension regulation denying pension to employees/officers for participation in strike, pension scheme in regional rural banks/cooperative banks, lifting of ban on recruitment besides removal of ceilings on gratuity and bonus.