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Thousands of customers faced disruption in banking services as employees of public sector banks (PSBs) took to the streets to demonstrate against the proposed privatisation of two PSBs.
With clearance of cheques, demand drafts and pay orders at a standstill, many could not pay advance tax ahead of the Monday deadline.
About 10 lakh bank employees participated in the strike, which will continue on Tuesday even though the government has not yet specified which of the two of the 12 PSBs will be privatised.
UFBU to intensify stir
The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), the umbrella body of nine unions that has called for the strike, threatened to intensify its stir. Most branches of PSBs, old generation private sector banks and regional rural banks across the country were shuttered.
“We congratulate everyone for making #BankStrike successful on very first day. Now it’s time for second day #BankSurgicalStrike. Soon we will call for #IndefiniteStrike,” tweeted UFBU.
“The strike was more than a success because most branches remained closed. Second, no normal banking transaction — such as cheque clearing — took place. Third, young bankers actively participated in demonstrations in large numbers,” said CH Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees’ Association.
While employees of old generation private banks such as Karur Vysya Bank, Federal Bank, Karnataka Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank, joined their PSB counterparts in the strike, it was business as usual at HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd as their employees are not unionised.
Soumya Datta, General Secretary, All India Bank Officers’ Confederation, underscored that people from all walks of life, including several sectoral unions in the public sector, extended their support to the strike.
“We will be aligning our struggle with all the other struggles happening across the country. We are mobilising public opinion because almost 80-90 crore of our population is banking with PSBs. So, all our branches are making the customers aware of the government’s privatisation policy and its implications for them. This is going to create a huge impact,” said Datta.
Unions leaders said that despite PSBs always doing the government’s bidding on, say, opening zero-balance Jan Dhan cccounts, demonetisation, disbursing Mudra loans, and so on, it is shocking that the government still wants to privatise them.
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