All branches of nationalised banks will remain closed on Friday and Saturday following a strike call given by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), said R. Kumar, Hassan district convener of the forum.
At a press conference here on Thursday, he said the forum has given the call for the strike to put pressure on the Indian Banks Association to revise wages of the employees, besides other demands.
The revision of wages had been pending since November 2017. The IBA had refused to accept the demands of the unions even after a series of dialogues. The banks, due to the hard work of the employees, had been making profits. But the profit had been adjusted to bad loans, to show a loss. “Above 80% of the bad loans belonged to corporate companies, not common people. The RBI should take responsibility for the bad loans and take strict actions to recover the loans,” he said.
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Other demands of the employees include a review of retirement benefits, employee-friendly pension scheme and fixed working hours for officers, Mr. Kumar said.
The employees of all nationalised banks would assemble at N.R.Circle and take out a march to the Deputy Commissioner's office on Friday. There would be no banking services on both days.
The unions would hold strike for three days from March 11 and would go on an indefinite strike from April 1 to put pressure on the IBA, if the demands were not fulfilled, he added.
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Ashok Bhat of SBI and Lokesh of Corporation Bank were present at the press conference.