Public Sector Bank employees go on strike

Mumbai, Jul 28: Over five lakh employees of public sector banks, except State Bank of India, today are observing a day-long strike across the country to protest the outsourcing of jobs and to demand more pension options, 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.

Several lakh employees were on strike 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. However, exporters, importers and other traders are partly effected due to the strike.

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 said that 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 were threaten to National security, they claimed.

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-third 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