Ten lakh employees and officers in the banking sector including public sector, private, foreign, co-operative and regional rural banks, will go on a strike on February 28 in response to the call of United Forum of Bank Unions and protesting against the decision to merge five associate banks with SBI .
Opposing the Cabinet approval and subsequent gazette notification, All India Bank Employees’ Association Secretary B.S. Rambabu and general secretary of State Sector Bank Employees’ Association (SSBEA) K.S. Krishna on Saturday expressed the apprehension that the merger would result in closure of large number of branches, loss of employment opportunities and curtail banking services to common customers. They termed the move as “denationalisation reform.”
The objective of recurring savings of Rs.1000 crore after merger would be achieved through closure of branches and restricting small loans and resorting to job cuts, they said. The government was trying to reduce number of public sector banks even as it was giving licences to small finance banks, payment banks and universal banks in the private sector, they said
Mounting loans
They said the avowed objective of efficiency and profitability would be achieved through addressing mounting bank loans. “Stressed assets in the form of non-performing loans and restructured loans and loan write-offs are eating away the profits of banks,” they said.
SSBEA represents the five associate banks that were proposed for the merger.
SBH Staff Association general secretary Srikant Reddy, president S.B. Rajasekhar and District Bank Employees Coordination Committee secretary P.S. Malleswara Rao were among those present.
