The Hindu Business Line : Bank strike affects clearing operations

Bank staff protest: Employees of nationalised banks protesting at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Friday the proposed merger of associate banks with State Bank of India. –

Our Bureau

Mumbai, Jan. 25 The one-day nationwide strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) affected clearing and settlements operations and also hit volumes in the money and forex markets. The UFBU, an umbrella organisation of nine unions, represents about 10 lakh employees belonging to public sector banks and old generation private banks.

According to a spokesperson from the Reserve Bank of India, on Friday only 68 out of 116-member banks participated in the high value cheque clearing in Mumbai. The total number of instruments that were cleared were 7,322 against 22,000 on a normal day.

The amount cleared was Rs 2,600 crore against Rs 11,000 crore on a normal day.

A forex dealer with a public sector bank said that volumes were much lower as there were hardly any deals from Indian corporates or oil companies. Volumes in the bond market were also thin, said dealers

The demands by the bank unions include no mergers between public sector banks, no outsourcing of normal banking jobs, one more round of option to join the pension scheme, appointments on compassionate grounds, recruitments to fill up all unfilled vacancies and early settlement of wage revision.

Speaking to reporters, Mr H N Sinor, Chief Executive, Indian Banks’ Association, said issues such as merger must be discussed by individual banks and appointment on compassionate grounds is for the government to decide.

On outsourcing, he said that the unions had agreed to outsourcing in the last bipartite settlement. The demand for pension in its current form is non-negotiable, but IBA is willing to discuss any other viable option, he said.

He also said that the IBA had written to the managements of all the banks and is waiting for their mandate to negotiate the wage revision for the next five years. Some banks are considering whether they should negotiate on their own without going through IBA in view of the high levels of attrition, he added.

The unions have also called for a two-day strike in February and an indefinite strike in March if their demands are not met.

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