Transactions at branches of public sector banks and old generation private banks across Telangana State were crippled on Wednesday as the employees joined a nationwide strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions.
The strike in support of the demand for higher wages, 23 per cent more to be precise, ensured no work from regular transactions such as withdrawal to cheque clearance could be possible. The ATM (automated teller machines) network came to the aid of the customers. Private banks functioned as usual.
Declaring the strike as total, the UFBU convenor (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh) V.V.S.R. Sarma said an estimated 80,000 employees across 5,000 branches in the two States participated in the nationwide strike. The protest, he added, was part of an ongoing agitation in support of the demand for more wages – as against the Indian Banks Association offer of 11 per cent. A one-day strike was held in December followed by a two-day strike in February.
Wednesday’s strike, in the event of the stalemate over the next wage negotiations continuing, would be followed by a strike at zonal levels. In the South, it will be on December 2. A protest meeting, in which several hundreds of bank employees participated, was held in the morning and addressed by the UFBU convenor M.V. Murali.
