Guwahati: The employees of the state-run banks are going on a two-day strike starting from Thursday. This was announced by the United Forum of Bank Unions against the Government’s movement of Bank Privatization.
The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBA) is the umbrella of nine unions including All India Bank Officers’ Confederations (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW). It has called for the two days bank strike on December 16 and 17 in order to protest against the government’s move to privatize the public sector bank. The unions have been protesting ever since the centre in its Budget 2021-22 announced its intention to privatize two public sector lenders.
In a meeting held on Wednesday, between the bank unions and the government no breakthrough could be reached after which the plan to go ahead with the strike. The public sector banks consist of nine lakh employees and all of them are expected to take part in the nationwide strike.
The protesting employees want assurance that the government will not table the Bank Privatization Bill (Banking Laws Amendment Bill 2021) in the winter session of the parliament.
It may be mentioned that the bill proposes to effect amendments in Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Acts, 1970 and 1908 and incidental amendments to Banking Regulation Act, 1949 in context of Union Budget announcement 2021. They believe that this move of the government will lead to the closure of banks in rural and backward areas.