Bank employees in Kerala to join nation-wide strike

Kannur, Sep 19 (UNI) Bank employees in Kerala will join the nation-wide strike on September 24 and 25 to oppose privatisation of banks, merger of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and unrestricted entry of FDI into the banking sector.

Talking to newspersons here, Mr K Rajakurup, General Secretary of National Confederation of Bank Employees (Kerala) and President of the State Banks' Staff Union (SBSU-KC), said employees of all the banks would participate in the agitation.

He said the UPA government was repeatedly attempting to consolidate the PSBs by merger on the pretext of making them stronger and bigger to face global competition.

''Our PSBs are meant for our country's basic economic development. We need to further expand our banks to achieve the objects of financial inclusion and merger is not an answer to these challenges,'' Mr Rajakurup added.

He said the efforts of the government to get the recommendations of the Raghuram Rajan Committee implemented and the recent statement of the Indian Banks Association that the government's equity capital in PSB could be reduced to less than 51 per cent were clear moves towards privatisation.

UNI AK DS RL DS1632