Strike paralyses banking work in Andhra, Telangana

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, December 16

Most banking services remained suspended in Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh on Thursday after employees stayed away from work because of a two-day strike call given by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU).

The employees of nine banks are protesting the government’s decision to privatise many banks.

The ATM and other services are expected to be hit as the employees will also remain on strike on Friday.

The employees on strike fear that this move of the government would reduce employment avenues and turn permanent jobs into contractual, thereby impacting job security.

The strike call was supported by the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW).

It is estimated that in Telangana, around 50,000 employees of private sector banks joined in for the strike, thereby paralysing the banking services. The situation in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh reported similar action by an equal number of employees.

R. Sriram, a leader of the UFBU Telangana, said all the banking services were stopped. These included transactions and the clearing of cheques. ATMs have so far not been affected, but they are bound to go dry during the next few hours as they will not be re-loaded.

Employees marched in Abids and other areas of the city carrying placards that read “Privatisation is abandoning social banking, It’s anti-people”, “Strengthen public sector banks, do not privatise them”, and “Stop privatisation of banks”.