The nationwide two-day strike called by the trade unions of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) under the banner United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) affected the banking operations in the district here on Wednesday.
Most of the banks wore a deserted look as over 2,000 employees of 325 PSB branches participated in the strike against the 2% salary hike.
This affected the daily transactions apart from the salary transactions of government and private companies due to the month-end. Though cash were available at the ATMs on Wednesday, the public fear that ATMs will ran dry on Thursday and the situation would get worse as cash will be filled only by Friday afternoon.
The employees also staged a demonstration on the premises of SBI in the town and raised slogans demanding increase in salary. They said that non-performing assets (NPAs) were affecting the banks and wanted stringent measures to be in place for collecting money from the defaulters.
At a protest held at SBI at Kottai branch, protesters wanted the Union Government to stop privatisation of public sector banks and ensure better service to its customers.
Swaminathan, coordinator, said that there are 600 branches in the district in which over 3,000 employees were working.
