To press for wage hike, public sector bank employees in eastern region went off work today while their counterparts in western parts will follow suit tomorrow on the last day of four-day relay strike.
All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) General Secretary C H Venkatachalam claimed that about 16,100 branches of PSU banks were closed in East India and 1.10 lakh employees took part in the strike.
However, private sector banks continued to function normally in 12 states where PSBs' employees went on strike.
Cheque clearances and deposit and withdrawal from branches in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and 8 North Eastern states were affected.
"We are still waiting for positive words from Indian Banks' Association," United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) Convener M V Murali told PTI. UFBU is the umbrella organisation of nine bank employees and officer unions.
"We have scaled down our demand from 25 per cent to 23 per cent (wage hike), but IBA is not yielding. It has been sticking to its earlier offer of 11 per cent which is not enough," Ashwini Rana, General Secretary of National Organisation of Bank Workers, said.
As part of four-day relay strike to press for wage hike, public sector bank employees will go on strike in Western region tomorrow.
Normal banking operations in the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Rajasthan and Gujarat would be affected due to the strike tomorrow. Some of the banks have already informed their customers about inconvenience due to the strike.
This is the second strike by bank employees in less than 30 days. The last strike was on November 12.
