Huge Numbers of Bank Employees Involved in the Nationwide Strike
The nationwide strike was called by ten lakh bank employees for one day basis. The reason behind the strike was a deficiency of deficiency of pay revision and against the bank mergers policy. The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) called the strike on 26th December. The bank services were affected due to the strike. Maximum banking sector employees were not working on Wednesday. All banking services had stopped on Wednesday and the public suffered a lot.
Cause of the Strike:
The consortium of nine unions in the banking sector including both the National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) and all India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) participated in the strike to fulfill their purposes. They protested against the amalgamation of Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank and Bank of Baroda. the National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) Vice President Ashwani Rana said about the strike to the reporters. The officers who belonged from 21 public sector banks, 10 lakh bank employees engaged to success the strike.
Besides them, foreign banks and old generation private banks which were in the banner of the United Forum of Bank Unions took part in the strike, he added. The hike of 25 percent of their wages, pay scale revision under 1 to 7 and proposal rejection about the variable pay were the main reason for this strike. After every five years, the pay revision of every state-run banks occurs. So that, to establish their demand should be affected badly to this sector because this is tough for the Authority to increase they’re considering as high nonperforming assets. From November 1, 2017, the pay revision of all banking employees awaited. Meanwhile, Indian Banks Association (IBA) proposed to give the hike only 8 percent. The proposal of IBA was not accepted by the United Forum of Bank Unions. The Additional Labour Commissioner called a mollification meeting on 20th December to prevent the entire system. Indian Bank Association and the MDs of Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank, and Vijaya Bank have received the notice regarding the strike by the United Forum of Bank Unions. Indian Banks Association was not assured to stop the merger of these three banks. This association also was not focus about the pay revision of the bank employees till now.