An influential forum of bank employees and officers unions has called for a two-day nationwide bank strike this month-end, something that may see bank customers planning for well in advance.
Though strike such as that proposed on May 30-31, with over 10 lakh bank staffers expected to participate, are not common, an announcement, however, is enough to make customers wary. Many of them in Telugu States are yet to recover from the pangs of a cash crunch that rocked bank branches and ATMs.
In the event of the United Forum of Bank Unions going ahead with the strike, the agitation could come in the way of customers accessing salaries and pensions at the beginning of a month.
General secretary (AP and TS) of Bank Employees’ Federation of India P. Venkataramaiah says the process of crediting salaries and pensions to the respective accounts was not completely electronic. As regards payments through cheques, the strike would affect the collection and clearing of the instruments.
Settlement overdue
Stating that the strike is a way of expressing their protest, he referred to the UFBU notice, which listed the 2% hike in wage bill offered by IBA as one of the points on which the strike has been called. The wage revision is now more than six months overdue, with the validity of last settlement up to October 2017. During the previous settlement process, the IBA had started with 5% and when the negotiations were finalised an increase of 15% in the wage bill was agreed upon. This time around, many of the banks had not given IBA the mandate to negotiate beyond Scale III officers salaries.
The UFBU comprises nine bank officers and employees unions — AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE, AIBOA, BEFI, INBEF, INBOC, NOBW and NOBO. In a strike notice to the Indian Banks’ Association, the Forum wants expeditious and early wage revision settlement, adequate increase in salary and improvement in other service conditions and also the wage revision settlement to include bank officers up to Scale VII.
The strike would follow the Rythu Bandhu scheme of Telangana government. Under the investment support programme, around ₹5,700 crore is being given to farmers at the rate of ₹4,000 per acre. Over 58 lakh cheques are to be distributed to the farmers, which are expected to be encashed immediately.
Cash shortage
The scheme has been launched in the backdrop of a cash crisis — though RBI has started pumping in ₹3,000 crore before taking stock of further requirement next week — and with the UFBU calling for a strike the chances of customers going for accelerated withdrawals could not be ruled out, sources say. Such withdrawals accentuate the demand for cash, which bankers say is comparatively higher even otherwise in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
A two-day strike, without adequate planning, could also see ATMs running out of cash. About 25% of the ATMs are replenished by the banks themselves, while the remaining facilities are entrusted to private vendors. According to the BEFI leader, the vendors are likely to be impacted as the cash has to be supplied from the currency chest of the banks.
Figuring in the list of demands of the bank unions is also a five-day week for the banks, in line with the practice followed by other institutions in the BFSI sector such as RBI and insurance companies.
