Around 5,000 branches and offices of commercial banks in the State remained closed on Wednesday as part of the 48-hour national strike by the nine-union United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) to press for salary revision.
The banking sector, excluding cooperative banks and the Kerala Gramin Bank, was paralysed. Majority of officers and employees of the bank branches in the public sector, private sector and foreign banks went on strike, crippling banking operations, including clearing houses. However, ATMs and net banking were not affected.
The UFBU staged demonstrations and dharnas at major towns and district headquarters.
C.D. Josson, State convener of the UFBU, told The Hindu that the strike was necessitated by the breakdown of the May 28 conciliatory talks called by the Chief Labour Commissioner of the Union government in Delhi.
The UFBU had stuck to its stand that the meagre 2% salary hike offered by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) was unacceptable. In the previous wage settlement, whose term ended in October last, the hike had been 15%. At the May 5 negotiations between the IBA and the UFBU, the IBA had offered to raise the wages by 2% which the union rejected outright. The IBA had restricted its offer to Class 1, II and III officers, thus excluding Class 1V to VII.
The strike will continue on Thursday.
