Bank employees to strike work on July 28: AIBEA

Mumbai, July 27 (UNI) Over five lakh employees of public sector banks -- with the exception of State Bank of India -- will go on a day-long strike across the country tomorrow to protest against the outsourcing of jobs and more pension options demand, besides fresh recruitment.

Three unions such as the All-India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA), the All-India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA) and the Bank Employees' Federation of India (BEFI) have advanced the strike called for August one to July 28.

AIBEA's General Secretary G H Venkaatachalam, in a statement, said the strike call was against privatisation, foreign direct investment and outsourcing, which were detrimental to not only bank employees but also the national economy.

He said the protest is partly aimed against a move by the Parliament to end the current rules, restricting voting rights of each shareholder in a bank to 10 per cent, even if the investor's stake is larger than that.

In effect, this voting cap is perceived to be a major obstacle to private and foreign investment in the banking sector but the unions, fearing job losses, disfavour such investment.

Several lakh employees would strike work demanding withdrawal of the Reserve Bank's circular on outsourcing of banking services and its decision to outsource clearing operations. Their other demands are voting rights (cap at 10 per cent) to foreign investors be not increased, filling up of one lakh vacancies and one more pension option.

The unions see a ploy to reduce employee strength in a move to outsource services such as ATM operations, credit card, opening accounts, cash withdrawal and deposit, issuance of draft, and sanction and disbursement of loans.

The unions say there has been virtually no hiring of clerical staff in the PSU banks for a long time and about one lakh posts are lying vacant.

Outsourcing of the RBI clearing functions to private parties will threaten national security. Another main demand is extension of the existing pension scheme to all employees.

It may be noted state-run banks dominate domestic banking sector, with a share of more than two-thirds of assets and liabilities.

Nearly 1.3 million people are employed in the country's banking and insurance sectors and a majority are expected to join the strike, which could affect cheque clearing operations, the union official said.

UNI SN SSS SKB2001