Bank Strike Today: SBI, other banks to remain closed; Indian Banks’ Association regrets the inconvenience caused to account holders

Bank Strike Today: The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) has regretted the inconvenience caused by the bank strike called by the various bank unions from today.

Bank Strike Today: Despite the revised offer of up to 19% hike made from the IBA side, the Unions have unfortunately decided to go ahead with their plan, says IBA. Photo: PTI

Bank Strike in January 2020: If you have some transaction to make, you will be disappointed as a bank strike has been announced today. The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) has regretted the inconvenience caused by the bank strike called by the various bank unions from today in a press statement. It said that the meeting between the IBA Negotiation Committee and the United Forum of Bank Unions for wage revision on 30th January 2020 concluded without any conclusion and the bank unions decided to go ahead with their January 31st to February 1, 2020 bank strike plan.

The Stata Bank of India (SBI) and other government banks have informed customers in regard to the 2-day bank strike from 31st January 2020. They have advised their customers to maintain their bank account and have proper cash in their pocket as, during the two-day bank strike, there will be Sunday following on February 2nd. So, on three consecutive days, banking services will remain suspended at the bank branches and it may hamper the ATM cash availability as well. They have urged their customers to keep these things in mind while maintaining their bank account and other banking-related requirements.

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In the press statement issued on January 30th, the IBA informed, "For the convenience of the customers, Banks will keep alternative channels available and customers can utilise these alternate/digital channels of banking 24x7 for day to day banking. We regret the inconvenience caused to customers and General Public." It added, "Multiple rounds of discussions have been held between the IBA Negotiating Committee and the United Forum of Bank Unions for the Wage Revision of Bank employees. In the meeting held on 30th January 2020, despite the revised offer of up to 19% hike including performance-linked incentive made from IBA side, the Unions have unfortunately decided to go ahead with an all-India Bank strike on 31st January & 1st February 2020, to be followed by other agitational programmes."

The IBA statement went on to add, "During discussions, the conditions of business, paying capacity of Banks and consistent efforts by Banks at providing various types of benefits to the employees from time to time were explained but all Unions are pressing for some other demands which are not possible to accept. One such demand is for 5-day banking. It is known to all that the economy of the country is going through testing times. Banks being the principal players in economic development, cannot afford to provide a lesser number of working days for banking activities. Our country already has one of the highest numbers of public holidays than any other country and adding 26 more holidays would create more problems for the public."

The salary hike matter of the government bank employees has been in limbo since November 2017. Speaking on the bank strike H Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) said, "We have decided to continue with our plans in regard to bank strike after the Indian Bank Association (IBA) failed to clear its stand on our demand. In fact, we have been forced to go ahead with our bank strike plans from 31st January 2020 to 1st February 2020 as IBA has continued to showcase its stubborn attitude towards our salary hike plan."

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