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Banking services came to a halt here on Monday as employees of various banks went on a two-day strike in support of their demands. The public were put to inconvenience as no services are available to them since Saturday (March 26).
The striking employees staged a demonstration outside the regional office of Canara Bank in Nazarabad here seeking fulfillment of their demands. They will continue to strike work on Tuesday and they would be holding a rally from Gandhi Square to Town Hall, to press for their demands, which primarily includes dropping the move to privatise banks.
The employees, under the banner of All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA) and Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), submitted a memorandum to the office of the Deputy Commissioner.
The other demands include strengthening of public sector banks; recovery of bad loans; increase in rate of interest on bank deposits; end to collection of hefty service charges from customers; restoration of DA-linked pension scheme; end to outsourcing and start of recruitment and regularisation of all contract workers.
The bank employees also sought cancellation of NPS and reintroduction of old pension scheme besides seeking substantial increase in minimum pension.
On the non-banking sector demands, the associations have sought food and income support of ₹7,500 a month to non-income tax paying households; increased allocation to MGNREGA and extension of employment guarantee scheme to urban areas; universal social security; and statutory minimum wage and social security for Anganwadi, ASHA and midday meal workers.
The employees have also sought insurance cover for the frontline workers in the fight against COVID-1 besides increasing public investment in agriculture, health, education and other crucial public utilities by taxing the rich through wealth tax.
Barring some private banks, the employees of all banks, excluding SBI, joined the strike.
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Many bank branches across the district have put up two-day strike notices on their premises requesting the customers to cooperate with them.
The striking employees claimed that privatisation would mean handing over of the financial sector to Indian and foreign capitalists. They said the common man should not be deprived of banking services and the savings of the common people should be protected.
The banks will reopen only on March 30 (Wednesday). “The four-day long closure of banks has caused inconvenience to the people,” said a few customers who visited a branch at Vijayanagar 3rd stage here unaware of the strike. However, the bank employees claimed that the strike notice was issued long ago and announcements were also made at the branches to facilitate the customers to make arrangements accordingly.
