Staff protest merger of 3 banks

Tribune News Service

Advertisement

Ludhiana, October 9

In response to a call given by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), bank employees and officials on Tuesday held a massive demonstration opposing unwarranted merger of three banks. As per decision, the United Forum of Bank Unions (Ludhiana) held a massive demonstration in front of the State Bank of India, Fountain Chowk.

Naresh Gaur, Convener, United Forum of Bank Unions, while addressing the bank employees, said, “The government is advocating its theory that India needs large-sized banks, and hence, this proposed merger. It is a tragedy that when the 10th death anniversary of Lehman Brothers is being observed this month and the myth of “too big to fail” had been exposed, our government is talking of large-sized banks. Big banks would imply big risks and Indian banks, which represent people’s money, cannot afford to take such risks. We need strong banks and not big banks.”

“The government announced its decision to merge three banks viz. Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank into one single bank. This is not a surprise altogether as this is part of this government’s agenda to consolidate the banks. But in India, what we need is expansion of banks and not consolidation and merger of banks” Gaur further said.

“The wage revision demands of bank employees should be settled expeditiously so that the entire workforce in the banks can concentrate their time and energy in addressing the multiple challenges facing our banks and to restore the confidence of the people on our banks,” said bank employees.

Pawan Thakur, President of the Punjab Bank Employees Federation (Ludhiana); JP Kalra, President of the State Bank of India Officers Association; Iqbal Singh Malhi, Deputy General Secretary, SBI Staff Association; Harvinder Singh, Senior Vice-President; Rajesh Verma, Vice-President, Punjab Bank Employees Federation; Ashok Arora, AIBOC; JS Mangat, Deputy General Secretary, State Bank of India Officers’ Association; KK Khullar, Regional Secretary, SBI Staff Association; Gurmeet Singh and Chiranjeev Joshi from AIBOA also addressed the protesters.