Two-day strike against merger of SBI associate banks from July 12

The State Sector Bank Employees' Association (SSBEA) has decided to go on a two-day strike from July 12, to protest the move to merge five associate banks with State Bank of India (SBI).

Opposing the merger decision, nearly 45,000 employees in the Associate Banks, with 6,700 branches and 9,000 ATMS, will go on strike on July 12 and 13, since the merger will hit the customers and the business badly, SSBEA General Secretary, K S Krishna told reporters here today. The total business of these banks as on March 2016 stood at Rs 900,000 crore with operative profit of Rs 10,500 crores, he said adding that the association will request the government to reconsider the decision.

The merger is to make SBI a very big bank of global standards, for the benefit of corporates and big companies. Such banks in USA had collapsed like a pack of cards. "If the merger takes place, the customers will face hardship, as they will be forced to wait for several hours for a single transaction," he claimed.

Even the state governments of Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Telengana and Punjab, with stake in the banks, have raised concern over the merger, for fear of losing share of profits paid by the banks, he said. Stating that there will be no recruitment for five years, he said delinking of associate banks from SBI would ensure independence, functional autonomy, further growth and its progress, Krishna added. The management of the associate banks, including State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad, have given nod for the merger at a meeting held on May 17 last.