Bank strike impacts transactions over Rs 21,000 cr on day one

Chennai/Agatala/Bengaluru, May 30: Banking transactions worth about Rs 21,700 crore could not be put into effect across the country as more than 10 lakh bankers struck work on Wednesday to demand wage revision.

“The strike call evoked good response. About 85,000 bank branches, including that of State Bank of India (SBI) and some private banks, spread across the country were closed,” C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA), told IANS.

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine bank unions, called for a two-day strike starting Wednesday.

The day saw bankers across the country holding demonstrations to push for an early conclusion of wage negotiations.

Queried about the value and volume of money instruments that would not be cleared by the bank’s clearing houses, Venkatachalam said: “On an all-India basis, clearance of 39 lakh instruments with a value of Rs 21,700 crore per day would be impacted. The above value and volume were the averages of last 15 days clearance of instruments.”

Venkatachalam said the unions had requested the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) to come up with better offer than the mere two per cent hike offer, so that the strike could be averted.

He said the IBA was also asked not to delink the wage negotiations for bank officers in the Scales 4-7. The IBA did not do anything.

At the conciliation meeting on Monday, the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) asked the IBA not to raise new controversies like delinking the wage talks for officers in the 4-7 scale, he said.

“Though the CLC tried its best to sort out the strike issues, there is no positive developments. Hence the strike on May 30 and 31 stands,” All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) General Secretary D.T. Franco had said earlier. (IANS)