Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

SBI strike

The indefinite strike by the employees of the State Bank of India has affected lakhs of customers. Cheques will not be cleared on time. As a result, all those who have borrowed from financial institutions will have to pay a penalty for delayed repayment. Who is responsible for the loss incurred by customers?

A.P. Thiruvadi,
Chennai

* * *

Employees of banks, the Railways and postal services should devise ways of agitating without causing undue inconvenience to the public. The SBI staff can continue customer service while denying financial and banking information to the Government during the strike. That way, the Government will be compelled to listen to them and the people will also understand and support their genuine demands.

N.B. Subramanian,
Chennai

* * *

While the strike is unfortunate, the Centre's inability to avert it is equally deplorable. The tendency of governments to act after a strike is called only strengthens the employees' belief that resorting to a strike alone can deliver.

T.N. Srinivasan,
Tirunelveli, T.N.

* * *

The employees decided to go on an indefinite strike only after the Finance Ministry refused to consider their demand to revise pension and remove the ceiling on pension. As for the charge that they are holding the customers to ransom, any strike is bound to inconvenience end-users. The unions gave adequate publicity to the strike, so that customers could make alternative arrangements. Since the SBI is the largest bank with more than 9,000 branches, the impact of the strike on the economy has been high. The Ministry should not have ignored this reality.

B.C. Unnikrishnan Nair,
Thiruvananthapuram

* * *

The employees have been agitating on the pension issue for 13 years. Who is responsible for rules not being implemented and a crisis developing as a result — the management or the employees who resorted to the strike after a long wait?

S. Vanmeekanathan,
Chennai

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