Today (Thursday), the functioning of banks will be affected due to a day-long nationwide strike by central labor organizations. Ten central trade unions, except the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, have called for a general strike on Thursday against various policies of the central government.
Several banks, including IDBI Bank and Bank of Maharashtra, told the stock markets on Wednesday that the strike may disrupt their offices and branches. All India Bank Employees Union (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), and Indian Bank Employees Federation have also announced to join the strike.
AIBEA said in a statement that the Lok Sabha has recently passed three new labor laws in the name of ease of doing business. This is entirely in the corporate interest. Around 75 percent of the employees have been excluded from the purview of labor laws and have no legal protection under the new laws.
AIBEA is the body representing almost all bank employees except the employees of State Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank. Employees of some foreign banks, including various government and private sector banks, are members of AIBEA.
The protests of bank employees are due to the privatization of banks and outsourcing or contracting various jobs in the sector. Apart from this, the demand for bank employees is also to recruit a sufficient number of employees for the sector and to take stern action against large corporate debt defaulters.
30,000 employees will join the strike
AIBEA represents most banks except the State Bank of India (SBI) and Indian Overseas Bank. Around 30,000 employees of public sector banks, old generation private sector banks, and foreign banks in Maharashtra will join the strike.
21 thousand branches will remain closed
The banking industry will also participate in the nationwide strike against the alleged anti-people, anti-farmer and anti-national policies of the central government of a common platform of the top ten labor unions representing crores of employees and workers working across the country. It is known that all the states in the country have one or more rural banks. The total number of them is 43. It has one lakh officers and all kinds of employees working in about 21,000 branches.