Banks on 2-day strike from today

Operations at public-sector banks are likely to be affected as employee unions have decided to go on a two-day nationwide strike from Monday to press for wage revision.

During the conciliation meeting held on February 6 before the Chief Labour Commissioner, the IBA did not come up with any improvement in the wage offer of 10 per cent hike in pay package, said United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) Convener M V Murali. As conciliation proceedings remained inconclusive the UFBU has decided to go on a two-day nationwide strike from February 10.

Banks have informed customers in advance about the likely inconvenience they could face due to the strike.

Private-sector players such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank are expected to function normally.

The All India State Bank Officers’ Federation and All India State Bank of India Staff Federation, being part of the UFBU will, also participate in the strike, said the SBI in a statement. There are 27 public-sector banks in the country with an employee strength of about 8 lakh.