Banking services across four districts, especially in State-owned banks, were affected on Friday as several bank employees’ unions began their two-day strike. The unions announced that they will go on strike on January 31 and February 1.
In Vellore, the agitating bank officials and staff staged a protest in front of Canara Bank on Anna Salai while most of the banks wore a deserted look due to the strike.
Similar protests were organised in Tirupattur, where bank staff shouted slogans against the Indian Banks’ Association for not finding a solution to their persisting issues. The protesters said that they had no other option but to go on a strike to draw the attention of the Union Government.
The demands from the bank unions include, 20% pay hike on payslip components, 5-day work week, scrapping of the new pension scheme and merger of special allowance with basic pay.
The employees have been waiting for a pay hike since November 2017. This strike call by staff corresponds with the Union Budget FY2020-21.
In Vellore, Tirupattur and Ranipet, over 4,000 employees from 400 bank branches participated in the strike, which halted business transactions. The three districts, which consists of a considerable number of businessmen and small traders, felt the heat as they could not make any cash transactions.
S. Abdul of Pernambut said he wanted to disburse salary to his workers, which he could not postpone. “Though the banks had announced the information of the strike through sms, it has created a major dent on our day-to-day transactions. Once they open on Monday, I have to depute exclusively a person to make all arrears of transactions on the date,” he said.
Several small traders still make transactions in cash and they need banking services on a daily basis to deposit and withdraw at their will. A few traders issue open cheques to their customers/clients for their transactions with them. These transactions come to a standstill due to the continuous strike by bankmen, traders said.
