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Our Bureau

Mumbai, Aug. 18 The one-day strike called by the officers of the State Bank of India and its associates affected branch operations across the country on Monday. The strike was called to protest the merger of State Bank of Saurashtra with SBI, even as the Government passed an order last week approving the merger.

Around 80,000 officers spread across 15,000 branches participated in the strike, said a press release issued by the All India State Bank Officers’ Federation (AISBOF). But, operations at SBI’s head office in Mumbai remained normal, said a bank official.

Mr G.D. Nadaf, General Secretary, AISBOF, said the all India strike was completely successful and none of the branches of the banks functioned today. However, according to a senior SBI official, some officers did not join the strike and a few of the banks’ branches were functioning. He admitted that communications were adversely affected and the full impact of the strike would be known in a couple of days.

Today’s strike will be followed by another strike on August 20 called by the three bank unions — All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) to protest future mergers of public sector banks, besides the specific SBI-related issue.

The United Forum for Bank Unions (UFBU) will meet in Chennai on August 21, to deliberate on further course of action that the unions will take against the merger and also certain policies of the Government, said UFBU’s convenor Mr C.H.Venkatachalam.

More Stories on : Trade & Labour Unions | Public Sector Banks | State Bank of India

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