The Hindu Business Line : SBI strike hits banking operations nation-wide

Banking operations in the country were affected to some extent on Monday due to the nation-wide strike by the State Bank of India employees. With over two lakh employees of bank staying away from work, cheque clearing, forex and call market operations were hit, said banking officials.

All the 9,000 branches of SBI remained shut on Monday after the unions called for a nationwide indefinite strike from Monday to protest the discrepancy in their pension scales compared with other public sector banks. For SBI, the ceiling for pension is fixed at Rs 5,600 per month, while for the rest of the banking industry it is 50 per cent of the last pay received.

SBI handles 25-30 million transactions a day.

ATMs normal

"We are trying to sort out the issue. We are talking to all concerned (the unions, the Government etc) and hope to find a solution soon," said Mr A. K. Purwar, Chairman, SBI.

The operations of SBI ATMs were normal on Monday, but they could be affected in a couple of days when the machines run out of cash.

However, customers can access the ATMs of SBI's associate banks and of those banks with which SBI has a bilateral tie-up, said Mr Purwar.

The RBI took over the clearing operations in most of the major centres operated by SBI, said an RBI spokesperson. But even in these centres, about 10 per cent of the transactions were hit.

"Transactions in which SBI was the involved party did not take place," the spokesperson said.

The number of RTGS transactions was only 170 against 800-900 normally. SBI has advised the RBI to block RTGS transaction from Tuesday, said an RBI official.

Mr Shantha Raju, General Secretary, All India State Bank Officers' Federation, said other bank unions under the umbrella of the United Forum of Bank Unions had offered their support to SBI's strike and could join the strike if needed.

A conciliation meeting with the Chief Labour Commissioner has been scheduled for April 5, said Mr Umesh Naik, President, All India State Bank of India Staff Federation. "We had a discussion with the Labour Minister on April 2 along with a representative of the Finance Ministry. We were asked to put the issue on hold until the Assembly elections are over. But we see no merit without a firm commitment," he said.

Some unions upset

The move by the SBI unions to strike for higher pension has upset some unions of other PSU banks who fear this will ruin the chances of pushing for one more round of choosing between pension and employer's provident fund - an option which had been provided in the 90's. "The industry level issue of one more option for pension and upgradation of pension should be taken alongside the SBI issue," said Mr R. J. Sridharan, General Secretary, All India Bank Officers' Association.

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