The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Bank unions to go on strike

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Friday, Sep 19, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Bank unions to go on strike

Special Correspondent

Employees of all public sector banks to strike work on September 24, 25

Bangalore: The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), a platform of all nine major unions representing workers and officers in the banking industry, has announced a two-day strike by employees of public sector banks (PSB) in the country on September 24 and 25. About 80,000 employees — 20,000 officers and 60,000 staff — working in PSBs in the State are expected to participate in the strike.

G.D. Nadaf, General Secretary, All India Bank Officers’ Confederation, said the unions were opposed to the privatisation of PSBs. Other demands include the rejection of the recommendations of committees headed by Raghuram Rajan and Anwarul Hoda, which had an accelerated schedule for reforms in the banking industry. Mr. Nadaf said the unions opposed the merger of PSBs. “We are concerned because the process has already been initiated in the State Bank of India (SBI) Group, starting with the merger of the State Bank of Saurashtra with the SBI last month,” said Mr. Nadaf.

Referring to the Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s statement that decisions relating to the mergers of PSBs would be taken by the bank managements, Mr. Vasant Rai, general secretary, Karnataka Pradesh Bank Employees’ Federation, said, “Mr. Chidambaram is misleading people because it is the Government which owns the PSBs.” Mr. Rai said the Government’s intention of amending Section 12 (2) of the Banking Regulations Act would “open the floodgates to foreign capital invading the Indian banking sector”. The proposed amendment would lift the cap on voting rights of Foreign Direct Investment irrespective of their actual level of holdings in the bank.

He said the committees established by the Planning Commission had suggested reforms that would “fundamentally change the very character of the PSBs”. For instance, the Anwarul Hoda Committee had recommended that the concept of priority sector in bank lending be phased out.

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