Bank Strike Day 2: Digital operations, delayed salaries to give some pain ahead

Various rounds of wage negotiations between banks and unions have failed to make headway.

 

Bank Strike : Branch-level operations, including cheque clearance and cash deposits, took a hit on Wednesday after 1 million bank employees participated on the first day of a two-day nationwide strike called by unions demanding wage hike. While ATM functions were not affected much, about 80 per cent were operational, some digital transactions were hit.

A total of 3.9 million instruments, including cheques and demand drafts worth Rs 217 billion could not be processed by banks during the day, said C H Venkatachalam, general secretary of the All India Bank Employees’ Association. The impact is expected to be similar on Thursday.

The strike resulted in the shutdown of around 85,000 branches of public sector banks and some of those of the older private sector banks, for the full day, Venkatachalam said. However, operations of banks such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were normal in most states.

Trade unions have opposed the Indian Banks Association’s (IBA’s) offer of a 2 per cent wage hike. Banks, saddled with high levels of bad loans, have expressed their inability to offer a bigger wage hike. At least 88 per cent employees working in public sector banks did not report to work, according to a preliminary assessment report.

Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and the seven north-eastern states were the worst hit. In Madhya Pradesh, 97 per cent bank staff did not report to work, followed by Karnataka and Chandigarh (95 per cent), Gujarat (94.5 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (94 per cent). In some states, a few branches of private sector banks were functioning. In Maharashtra, 70 per cent of the workers in private banks skipped work.

Since the strike coincides with the month-end cycle, salary withdrawals may be affected. Owing to the strike call, several government departments had credited advance salaries to employees on May 29.

According to industry body Assocham, the two-day strike called by the Union Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), representing nine unions, will affect transactions worth up to Rs 200 billion.

Bankers, however, downplayed the impact and said most of them were prepared in advance because the strike notice was given by unions two weeks in advance. “We have alerted all our regions and will ensure that ATMs run at normal capacity. While there will be some treasury impact, a lot of operations are now digital and are unlikely to be hit,” State Bank of India Chief Operating Officer Neeraj Vyas said.

Read More → Bank Strike News 2018

Banks on 2-day nation-wide strike from today: Here’s how it will affect you

The two-day nationwide bank strike on May 30 and 31 will hit banking operations and might lead to cash-crunch across the country.

Business News : Employees and officers of various public sector banks across the country are on a two-day strike starting today to protest a nominal 2 per cent wage hike offered by the Indian Bank’s Association (IBA).

The strike is expected to hit bank customers hard as it may disrupt month-end salary credit operation. Further, the strike could trigger a country-wide cash crunch as ATMs of most banks would not be replenished in the next two-days. Several ATMs might even remain closed during the strike as security guards employed in these ATMs are also likely to participate in the protest.

Owing to the strike, operations such as clearing of cheques, money transfer, cash remittances, and deposit and withdrawals at branches will not be possible in the next two days.

---

Also Read : Salary withdrawal, ATM transactions may take a hit due to 2-day bank strike

---

Why are Bank Unions Protesting:

The United Forum of Banking Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine bank unions, has demanded early wage review settlement, sufficient increase in salary and improvement in other service conditions and wage revision settlement for all officers up to scale VII.

In the last wage revision in 2012, which was for the period between November 1, 2012, and October 31, 2017, bank employees got a 15 per cent wage hike and AIBOC Joint General Secretary Ravinder Gupta said the unions were expecting a better salary increase this time.

“We had requested the IBA to come up with a better offer than the mere two per cent hike offer made earlier,” said C H Venkatachalam, General Secretary of AIBEA, one of the bank union participating in the strike.

“We also asked the IBA not to delink the wage negotiations for bank officers in the Scales 4-7. The IBA did not do anything,” he added.

---

Read More on → Bank Strike

Around 1 million bank employees to go on 2-day strike from May 30 and May 31

About 1 million bank officers are expected to participate in the strike on May 30 and May 31.

Breaking News India : Around 1 million bank employees will go on a two-day strike this Wednesday as the conciliation efforts by the Union government failed to convince bank unions to call off protests against the proposed low wage hike. Additional Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) Rajan Verma met the bank unions, under the banner of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), finance ministry officials and bank management, represented by the Indian Banks Association (IBA) in an effort to avert the strike.

“The CLC tried his best to sort out the strike-related issues but there is no positive development. Though the bankers, through the IBA, said they are willing to reconsider the proposed wage hike, there was no concrete proposal.

Hence, the strike stands,” All India Bank Employees Association General Secretary C H Venkatachalam said.

D T Franco, general secretary, All India Bank Officers’ Confederation said about 1 million bank officers are expected to participate in the strike on May 30 and May 31. During the conciliation proceedings, the bank unions told the CLC that a 2 per cent wage hike was proposed in a meeting held between bankers (IBA) and unions (UFBU) on May 5 “which was not at all acceptable, considering the rise in cost of living.”

“The officials from the IBA stated that they have had several rounds of discussions in respect of wage negotiations…in view of the huge non-performing assets or bad loans in the banks, only 2 per cent of wage increase was offered.

Strike Alert

Trade unions oppose…

• Bank management’s proposal for a 2 per cent wage hike
• Decision to negotiate wages for up to senior manager-level officers, thereby excluding general managers
• Centre’s ‘casual approach’ to wage revision of bank employees

Unions demand…

• Early wage revision settlement
• Wage revision should include all bank officers
• Adequate increase in salary and improvement in other service conditions

Labour Commissioner tells banks to…

• Cover all officers in wage negotiation
• Revise wage hike proposal

---

Read More on → Nationwide Bank Strike

Strike by 10 trade unions begins; transport, banking to be hit

Essential services such as banking and transport are likely to be hit today as 10 central trade unions go on one-day nationwide strike, protesting against "anti-worker" changes in labour laws and the Centre's "indifference" to their demands for better wages.

"The strike is on. We are getting good response. More information will pour in after sometime. Around 90 per cent workers at BHEL's plant in Tiruchirapalli have not reported at work in the morning shift," Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) General Secretary Tapan Kumar Sen told PTI.

He further said, "Vizag steel plant is 100 per cent closed. At some places there would be instances of 'Rail Roko'. This is going to be a successful strike as more than 15 crore workers will come on streets to protest."

Last year, these 10 trade unions had called nationwide strike and around 15 crore workers participated in the read more..

Mumbai commuters face morning chaos as auto-rickshaw strike kicks in

Suburban commuters in the Greater Mumbai region were left scrambling on Wednesday morning as more than 80,000 auto rickshaws stayed off the roads to protest against cab aggregators such as Uber and Ola.

Adding to their woes, a number of taxis with affiliation to Uber and Ola also stayed off the roads in the suburbs, likely for fear of violence.

As a result, long lines were to be seen at bus stop as office-goers tried to get to their workplace or the nearest railway station.

The three-wheelers, which provide a cheap and quick option for local transport are on a day-long strike demanding formulation of strict rules and regulations against taxi aggregators. Commuters in the suburbs were also seen trying to flag down the handful of auto-rickshaws that were plying in the hope of getting a shared ride.

In certain parts, kaali-peeli taxis, as the city’s ubiquitous black-and-yellow cabs are known locally, were also not plying even though the union has not included them in read more..