Seven lakh employees from various banks will strike work all over India today to protest the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill after a conciliatory meeting of the Indian Banks' Association with the chief labour commissioner failed to arrive at a solution.
Work in 27 public sector banks, 12 old generation private sector banks and eight foreign banks shall come to a standstill due to the strike, said Vishwas Utagi, secretary of All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), one of the four unions participating in the strike. The other bank unions are Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA) and National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE)
As part of the strike, the unions have planned to a rally in Azad Maidan in Mumbai around 12:30 p.m. The unions are also likely to hold rallies in other cities today.
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The unions are protesting against the amendments to the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, which are aimed at handing over Indian private sector banking to multinational banks and increasing presence of Indian corporate and foreign direct investment in public sector banks. They are contesting that the amendment to the banking laws will dilute the interest of public sector banks.
The Parliament on Monday cleared the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill after the government dropped controversial provisions relating to futures trading.
“We are also protesting (against) outsourcing of regular banking jobs of employees and officers jeopardizing permanent jobs and job security. Demand is for massive recruitment in the banking industry through establishing Banking Services Recruitment Board and not through IBPS, which is only a profit-making company unconcerned with needs of the public sector banks,” said Mr Utagi said.
The Banking Bill, years in waiting, paves the way for foreign investment in the sector and establishment of new private banks. The Bill further allows RBI to supersede boards of private sector banks and increase the cap on voting rights of private investors in state-owned banks to 10 per cent from 1 per cent.
Many banks, including Indian Bank and Corporation Bank, had informed customers that normal functioning of branches may be affected if strike materialises.
In August, employees of public sector banks had gone on two-day nationwide strike opposing banking sector reforms and outsourcing of non-core activities.
With inputs from PTI, IANS
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