A bank union forum covering 10 lakh employees across the public, private and cooperative sector is likely to go on strike on Tuesday to protest against various issues, including the rising number of bad loans and the outsourcing of permanent jobs in the sector. The United Forum of Bank Unions, an umbrella body of nine organisations, is also opposing labour reforms proposed by the Centre and is demanding greater accountability for senior executives, PTI reported on Sunday.
The decision to go ahead with the strike reportedly came after a final round of talks between the Forum and the chief labour commissioner. All India Bank Employees’ Association General Secretary CH Venkatachalam said bank managements represented by the Indian Bank Associations did not agree to demands put forward by the nine unions.
AIBEA Secretary BS Rambabu and State Sector Bank Employees’ Association General Secretary KS Krishna on Saturday also said the protestors were opposing State Bank of India’s merger with five associate banks, The Hindu reported. The two said that the merged entity would close branches, put restrictions on small loans and cut jobs to meet costs. The officials also said the Centre was trying to reduce the number of public sector banks even while issuing licences to small finance institutions, payment and universal banks in the private sector.
The UBFU’s constituent unions have put forward demands including overtime pay for employees who worked extra hours after demonetisation was announced in November 2016. They have also demanded adequate recruitment for all bank cadres as well strong measures to recover bad loans from borrowers.
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