Services at public sector banks may take a hit on Tuesday (August 22) as unions under the aegis of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) have reiterated their earlier decision to go on strike against the government's proposed consolidation move.
A Business Standard report said on Sunday that most banks have already informed their customers that functioning of branches and offices will be impacted if the employees go ahead with the strike on Tuesday.
AIBOC General Secretary D T Franco was quoted by Business Standard as saying, "As the conciliation meeting before the Chief Labour Commissioner failed, unions are left with no other option but to go on strike. There was no assurance from the government and the management of banks."
Franco said that all attempts to hammer out solutions to the demands raised by the unions bore no fruit, and hence, UFBU which claims a membership of nearly 10 lakh across banks, decided to proceed with the proposed strike on August 22.
Besides calling for a rethink by the government on its bank merger plans, a host of other demands raised by the bank unions include a no write-off policy for non- performing assets (NPAs) of corporate loans, declaring wilful default of loans as criminal offence and implementation of recommendations of teh Parliamentary Committee on recovery of NPAs.
UBFU has also called upon the government to reimburse the banks against costs incurred by them in implementing the demonetisation policy from November 8 last year.
Noting that banks should not pass on their corporate NPA burdens on to their customers, AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatchalam said the government should abolish the Banks Board Bureau and ensure stringent measures to recover bad loans and fix accountability on top executives, Business Standard reported.
Operations at private lenders like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are expected to be normal except for delays in cheque clearances, the report said.
Public sector banks currently control 75 percent of the total banking business.
The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) is an umbrella body of nine unions, including the All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and the National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW).
