Bank staff begin two-day strike, services take a hit

Our Correspondent

Jalandhar, January 31

On the call of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), over 600 bank employees began their two-day strike and held a massive protest at Company Bagh Chowk here today against the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the Central Government for their lacklustre attitude towards their long-pending demands.

Bank employees under the nine bank unions, including All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW), staged demonstrations and raised slogans against the Centre.

Nearly 380 bank branches in the city and 720 in the district remained closed due to the strike. The clearing house remained suspended and around 25,000 cheques for Rs 230 crore were not cleared. The cash transactions of Rs 220 crore were also affected.

Addressing the gathering, SPS Virk, co-convener, UFBU, Jalandhar unit, said a number of discussions were being held with the Indian Banks’ Association and sub-committees of workmen unions and officer associations on various occasions so far, but they were yet to reach a consensus.

“We need to fight against this rigid approach of the IBA. There is no alternative left before the unions and we are compelled to highlight our demands through agitation,” he said.

He said the bank unions since long have been demanding wage revision, settlement at 20 per cent hike on payslip components with adequate loading thereof, five-day banking system, merger of special allowance with basic pay and scrapping of the New Pension Scheme (NPS).

Other demands include updation of pension, improvement in family pension, allocation to staff welfare fund based on operating profits of banks and exemption from income tax on retiral benefits without ceiling, he said. Satish Sodhi, member, AIBOC, said their protest would intensify if the Central Government does not accede to their demands at the earliest.

He said under the Modi-led Central Government, the work in banks had increased manifold owing to various banking schemes introduced by the government but the employees had been still deprived of benefits and were suffering due to anti-employee policies.