Bank strike across the country on Jan 31 & Feb 1, unions threaten indefinite strike from Apr 1

Public sector banks have called for a country-wide strike on January 31 and February 1.

The strike has been called by the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) – the largest organisation of bank officers in India. The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), which is an umbrella body of bank employees’ unions have lent their support to the strike.

The decision was taken after talks by representatives of nine unions in UFBU with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) failed to come to an agreement over the demands of bank employees. The dates of the strike are significant as this year’s Economic Survey will be presented on January 31 while the Union Budget will be presented on February 1.
Some of the demands that have been placed include restructuring of salaries and working for five-days a week, among others. The organisation will also protest the large scale mergers of banks across the country and demand efficient and speedy probe into the cases of big defaulters who have escaped abroad with huge sums of money.

The employees’ unions had demanded a 15 per cent hike in salary but the IBA agreed to raise it by only 12.25 per cent.
Bank workers will again hold a series of strikes from March 11-13 on such issues and have threatened to go into an indefinite strike from April 1 if their demands are not met with.