Second bank strike in less than a week to impact banking services: All you need to know

This will be the second bank strike in less than a week. On December 21, an officers' union of state-run banks observed a day-long strike to protest against the merger and also demanded immediate settlement of wage negotiations. The unions claim that the government wants banks to grow in size by such mergers but even if all public sector banks are bundled into one, the merged entity will not find a place among the top 10 globally.

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The strike is being organised by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine unions, including the All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC), the All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE) and the National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW). The UFBU claims membership of 10 lakh officers and staffers.

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Bank employees are protesting the proposed amalgamation of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda. They say the ultimate aim behind the amalgamation move is to privatise nationalised banks. 

"In a country like ours," says Janak Raval, general secretary of MGBEA, which is affiliated to AIBEA. "What we need is an expansion of the banking sector and not amalgamation and consolidation. Banking density in India is one of the lowest in the world. The merger of banks or amalgamation of banks to consolidate the sector is unnecessary and illogical." 

MGBEA says there is no evidence that consolidation would benefit the banking sector. "Even the mega-merger of six associated banks with the State Bank of India last year has not benefited SBI," said the MGBEA in a statement, "Instead, SBI has had to close branches and restructure operations, and also has the added stress of bad loans. It has slipped into losses after the merger. We are also witnessing shrinkage in employment potential in SBI because the merger has resulted in surplus staff."

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According to AIBEA General Secretary C H Vekatachalam, the conciliation meeting called by Additional Chief Labour Commissioner did not lead to any assurance and so the unions are going ahead with the strike. During the meeting, neither the government nor the concerned banks came forward to assure that they will not go ahead with the merger, he added. 

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The government in September approved the amalgamation of Bank of Baroda (BoB), Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank -- the first three-way merger in the public sector banking space. The move follows top lender State Bank of India last year merging five of its subsidiary banks with itself and taking over Bharatiya Mahila Bank, catapulting it to among the top 50 global lenders. The merged entity will have a combined business of Rs 14.82 trillion, making it the third largest bank after State Bank of India (SBI) and HDFC Bank. 

On wage revision, NOBW Vice President Ashwani Rana it is due since November 2017. So far, Indian Banks' Association (IBA) has offered 8 per cent wage hike which is not acceptable to UFBU, he said. 

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Services of state-owned banks are expected to be impacted due to the nation-wide strike call. Bank transactions worth Rs 15,000 crore are likely to be derailed because of the strike. However, alternate channels such as ATMs, net banking and mobile banking will continue as usual. Most of the banks have already informed customers about the strike. Private sector banks will continue to function as usual. 

(Photo: Reuters)