Bank strike today: State Bank of India, PNB, BOB & other banks on strike; check list here

The Union Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine bank unions, has organised a two-day bank strike today from December 16 to protest the central government's proposal to privatise public sector banks. The Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, is being pushed back by bank unions. In the Union Budget 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that two public sector banks would be privatised during the current fiscal year as part of the government's Rs 1.75 lakh crore disinvestment plan.

The Centre has decided to introduce the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the ongoing Winter session of Parliament to amend the provision in the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970. The Act requires the government to maintain a 51 % share in public sector banks at all times. The government's minimum ownership will be reduced to 26% under the new measure.

Bank strike today: State Bank of India, PNB, BOB, other banks on strike

AIBOC, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), and the National Organisation of Bank Workers are among the nine bank unions that make up UFBU (NOBW). The National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), the Indian National Bank Employees Federation (INBEF), the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), and the National Organisation Of Bank Workers (NOBW), as well as officers' organisations such as the All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) and the National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO), had decided to strike on December 16 and 17. The nationwide protest will draw around nine lakh employees from state-owned banks. Users have already been warned that banking services will be disrupted during the two-day bank strike this week by the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, and RBL Bank. During the bank strike, ATM services will be interrupted in addition to the normal operation of the branches.

Bank strike on December 16 and 17 supported by DMK in Tamil Nadu

The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu backed a two-day nationwide strike planned by bank employees on December 16 and 17 to protest the government's decision to privatise two public sector banks. Durai Murugan, the party's general secretary and a State Minister, wished the strike success and pledged his party's "total support" for the protest. According to a DMK statement issued here, when union representatives informed party president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin of the "just" reasons behind the agitation, the DMK was offering support to the strike. He claimed that banks used human rights-violating methods to recover debts from farmers, small women businesses, and students, but that they did not do so with large corporations.

"It is anti-democratic that the BJP-led government at the Centre is keen to pass the Bank Privatisation Bill (Banking Laws Amendment Bill, 2021) in the current winter session of Parliament," he added.

With inputs from PTI 

Image: ANI/ Representative Image