New Delhi, August 06: Banking operations are likely to be affected for two days from Thursday as employees of public sector banks have threatened to go on a nationwide strike to press for wage hikes and other demands.
Yesterday’s efforts to avert strike could not bring any results as Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) did not concede to the bank unions demand for the wage hike, said United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) Convener C H Venkatachalam.
“We are going ahead with the strike,” he said, adding that the IBA has further reduced the rate of wage hike from the proposed 17.5 percent to 13 percent.
Venkatchalam said the IBA has also retracted from their earlier stand that the existing pension scheme will be extended to the remaining employees who are now in PF scheme.
Thus, employees are forced to strike work as the IBA continues its “stiff stance”, he said, adding that the legitimate demands are being neglected by the managements of banks, leading to hardship for customers.
The UFBU is an umbrella body of nine bank employee unions of the country and claims to have members from public, private and foreign banks.
s As many as 10 lakh employees, including officers, will participate in the strike, affecting services in about 60,000 bank branches in the country, the UFBU claimed.
PSU banks control about 70 percent of the banking operations in the country.
–Agencies