Privatization of Banks : Nation-wide strike enters second day

The strike was called by UFBU, an umbrella body of nine unions, to protest against the move of the Central government to privatize the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) by introducing the Banking Laws (Amendment ) Bill, 2021 in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.

The bill enables the government to reduce their equity capital in the PSBs to less than 51 per cent and allow private hands to take over the Nationalised Banks.

All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) General Secretary Ch Venkatachalam in a release today said bank employees, officers and Managers have commenced their second day’s strike.

He said the strike was 'total' on Thursday and added normal transactions could not be done in branches and 95% of the branches remained closed down.

Employees and officers, especially young employees were very vociferous in the rallies and demonstrations indicating their deep concern about their future if banks are privatized.

With great difficulty and amidst very tough competition, they chose to join the PSBs only for the sake of job security. Many of them had left more remunerative private jobs, IT jobs, etc, he maintained.

The top union leader said 'Their appeal to the Unions to give the call for 'indefinite' strike shows their anguish and determination which is the big strength in the struggle of the bank unions'.

Since the Bill has been listed in the Agenda for passage in the current session, we have given the call for strike.

The AIBEA General Secretary said the only issue being confronted with the PSBs was that of huge Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) in which the major share was that of big corporates. Successive governments had taken initiatives such as Debt Recovery Tribunals, SARFAESI Act, IBC, etc, but they have not yielded the desired results and therefore ultimately banks were forced to write off those loans resulting into huge losses.

This shows that it is not the Nationalisation of banks, which has failed but it is the wilful default of the corporate and big business houses, which have dragged the banks into this crisis.

Even under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, while bad loans have been resolved and Banks could get back some portion of the loan, it has been with huge haircuts for the Banks.

As per reports reaching us from various States, the strike has begun very successfully and employees and officers have enthusiastically joined the strike.

Bank employees are conscious that bank privatisation will not be in the interest of our country, our economy and our people, besides affecting their jobs, job security and future prospect.

Because of the strike, banking transactions have been hugely affected and paralyzed. Most of the Bank branches remained closed because branch managers also joined the strike.

Cash transactions could not be carried out, he said government treasury operations, negotiating of import and export bills, grant of loans, cash transactions and clearing operations were not possible.