Public sector banks to strike on August 22-23

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has decided to go on nation-wide strike on August 22-23, the union said in a statement.

UFBU is the umbrella organisation of five employee unions and four officer unions of state-run banks in the country.

The Chief Labour Commissioner has called the bank union on 21 August for a conciliation meeting on strike notice, the statement added.

A section of public sector bank employees plan to go on a two-day strike in August to protest the proposed reforms in the banking sector and outsourcing of jobs. File Pic

The UFBU is against the proposed banking sector reforms, unilateral imposition of the Khandelwal committee report and want appointment on compassionate ground. "The banking reform measures are retrograde but the government is still pursing the same and hence our protest," the statement said.

The Banking Laws Amendment Bill, 2011, which is before Parliament, contains provisions such as raising of shareholders' voting rights from 10 percent to 26 percent in private banks and suppression of bank boards.

There are about 87,000 branches of public sector banks across the country. The state-owned lenders control about 75 per cent banking business. The Centre-appointed Khandelwal panel had suggested a slew of measures, including more outsourcing of non-core activities in a time-bound manner.

Also, the standard of recruitment, including methodology and content for testing, has to be raised. Testing of computer skills will be mandatory for both officers and clerks, the panel had recommended.

The Khandelwal committee on human resources (HR) had also suggested that the minimum qualification for clerks and sub-staff should be graduation and class 10, respectively.