Employees of the State Bank of Mysore went on a strike in the city on Thursday protesting the proposed merger of the five associate banks with the parent State Bank of India besides raising other demands.
All the branches of the SBM and other associate banks of the SBI were closed for public transaction affecting business. The employees assembled in front of the main office of the SBM at Nehru Circle and staged a dharna. The strike call was given by the State Sector Bank Employees’ Association (SSBEA) and supported by the SBM Employees’ Union.
Their other demand pertained to compassionate appointment scheme introduced in the associate banks which was reckoned as not being in tune with the proposal approved by the Government of India. The office-bearers of the SSBEA said that the SBI management had taken a rigid stance on issues of enhancing housing loan to staff. There are other pending issues, including recruitment of sub staff and part-time employees, enhancement of overdraft limits while there was opposition to the imposition of the SBI service conditions in the associate banks.
A senior official told The Hindu that only clerical and subordinate staff below the rank of the Assistant Manager took part in the Thursday’s strike while all officers attended work. However, in the absence of clerical staff, business transaction with public was affected and no posting of accounts took place.
There are 74 SBM branches in the district apart from a few branches of the State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Patiala.
Besides Thursday’s strike public has to brace up for another round of strike on June 24 in which all staff, including the officers, will participate and the All-India Bank Employees’ Association has extended its support for the cause, said the official.
The business community has cautioned that frequent strikes by the bank employees would result in loss of public sympathy as customers would be affected. Suresh Kumar Jain of Mysore Industries Association said it was a fallacy to assume that customers will be content if the ATMs are replenished.
“There are other transactions which will affect the business community like cheque clearance, closing short-term loan etc. which gets delayed due to strike and add to a day’s interest”, he added.
Not withstanding online banking facility most customers, including retailers and traders, prefer offline physical transaction and operate through instruments like cheque, DD etc. with hardly 10 per cent of the customers opting for online banking.
Business transaction with public was affected and no posting of accounts took place
