Bank, insurance unions threaten strike during Parliament’s winter session

Chennai: The Co-ordination Committee of Bank, Insurance and Finance Sector Unions (CCBIFU) on Saturday said a would be called during the winter session of the Parliament if the government does not revise its policies on banking and insurance sectors.

“If the government does not revise its policies on banking and insurance sector and would continue with their existing policies, the CCBIFU will decide to go on a strike during the winter session of the Parliament in December, 2018,” Committee Chairman C.H. Venkatachalam said in a statement.

The Committee was formed to protest against what are termed as attacks on the banking and insurance sectors like foreign direct investment (FDI), disinvestment and other sectoral reforms.

The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), General Insurance Employees All India Association (GIEAIA) and All India LIC Employees Federation (AILICEF) constitute the commitee.

While Venkatachalam, the General Secretary of AIBEA, is the Committee’s Chairman, K. Govindan, General Secretary of the GIEAIA is the Convener.

According to Venkatachalam, banks represent hard earned savings of the common people.

“Today it is more than Rs 115 lakh crore. If banks are privatised, the people’s money will be in the hands of the capitalists. The only problem in the banks is the huge bad loans due from the corporate borrowers,” he said.

“Instead of taking action to recover the bad loans, banks are sought to be handed over to them. In LIC also there are huge bad investments which are non-performing. There must be a thorough parliamentary probe into all these investments,” he added.

IANS