Kerala - Kochi   

Bank strike hits business, trade

Special Correspondent

No strike in State Bank of India, new-generation banks

UP IN ARMS: Bank employees taking out a march in Thiruvananthapuram as part of their all-India strike on Friday. - Photo: S. Mahinsha

KOCHI: The nationwide one-day strike by three major bank unions to press their demands, including increase in staff strength and stopping outsourcing work to private contractors, hit banking business across the State on Friday.

Most of the nationalised banks and some of the private banks were closed. Cash transactions, clearing-house work and foreign exchange operations were badly affected. However, some of the public-sector banks, such as State Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank, remained open but the volume of transactions was small. The new-generation banks, which have no formal trade unions, as well as traditional private banks such as South Indian Bank functioned normally.

The strike hit business activities across the State. In Kochi, the trading nerve centre of the State, businesses reported that they were only partially affected by the strike. Since the new-generation banks and some of the nationalised banks had functioned, the strike had not inconvenienced them.

The strike had been called by three leading unions, All-India Bank Employees' Association, All-India Bank Officers' Association and Bank Employees' Federation of India.

The unions took out rallies to highlight their demands in the cities and major towns of the State.

The union functionaries alleged that the Government was abandoning step by step the concept of social banking, which was helpful to millions of poor borrowers in the country.

The Government was also planning to sell sizeable chunks of national banks' shares to the private sector and foreign companies; hundreds of rural branches have been closed and their staff retrenched; and, the cost of adopting new technologies was being passed on to the public.

But, more than that, the union leaders said, the Government move to outsource banking work, including the crucial clearing-house operations, was alarming.

The nation's 1,100 clearing houses are being run efficiently by the Reserve Bank and a select band of nationalised banks. This is now being entrusted to the National Payments Corporation of India.

They said there were some one-lakh vacancies in the nationalised banking sector.

Despite the heavy increase in business volumes as well as widening of the banking network, these vacancies had not been filled.

This had put heavy work pressure on the staff and affected customer service, they claimed.

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