Banking operations impacted across Maharashtra on first day of strike

Banking operations of public sector lenders in Maharashtra were affected on Thursday as 60,000 of their employees joined a two-day nationwide strike against bank privatisation, unions said.

Customers of these public sector banks (PSBs) faced difficulties as services like cash withdrawals, cheque clearances and loan approvals were hit due to bank branches not being operational.

Overall, around nine lakh employees of various PSBs went on the strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) to protest against the government's decision to privatise two more state-run banks.

The government had in Budget 2021-22 announced its intent to take up privatisation of two PSBs during the year.

UFBU is an umbrella body of nine unions, including All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW).

Apart from PSBs, some employees from old generation private sector banks and regional rural banks were also on strike. Employee unions from Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have also extended support to the strike, unions claimed.

Bank employees right from sweepers to senior executives in scale 5 are observing the two-day strike on December 16 and 17.

In Mumbai, approximately 5,000 bank employees demonstrated at Azad Maidan, unions said.

UFBU's Convenor (Maharashtra) Devidas Tuljapurkar said PSBs are at the forefront of implementing all government schemes such as Jan-Dhan Yojana, social sector insurance scheme and Mudra schemes, meant for the economically and socially backward sections of the society.

He said privatisation will result in closure of bank branches in rural and backward areas, which may affect the implementation of various government schemes in these regions.

UFBU said if the government fails to revisit its stand on bank privatisation, then employees will be compelled to resort to an indefinite strike.

On Monday, many state-run lenders, including State Bank of India, Canara Bank, UCO Bank and Central Bank of India, urged their employees to withdraw the proposed strike and invited them for further discussions. PTI HV ABM ABM