Nationwide strike impacts banking services

Banking operations including cheque clearance across the country got affected on Monday as bankers under the aegis of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) have gone on a nationwide strike to protest against the proposed privatisation of two state-owned lenders

UFBU, an umbrella body of nine unions, had given a strike involve March 15 and 16, and claimed that about 10 lakh bank employees and officers of the banks will participate within the strike
However, branches of personal sector lenders like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank are open as they’re not a part of the strike

In the Union Budget presented last month, minister of finance Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the privatisation of two public sector banks (PSBs) as a part of the government’s disinvestment plan

The government has already privatised IDBI Bank by selling its majority stake within the lender to LIC in 2019, and has merged 14 public sector banks within the last four years
According to All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) general secretary CH Venkatachalam, services at branch level; cheque clearance; and government transactions are affected

Besides, money markets and stock markets also are getting to face problems as payments would be impacted, he said

Members of UFBU include All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA) and Bank Employees Confederation of India (BEFI)

Others are the Indian commercial bank Employees Federation (INBEF), Indian commercial bank Officers Congress (INBOC), National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) and National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO).