Published On : Tue, Mar 16th, 2021

Nationwide bank strike enters day 2

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The two-day national strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions, an umbrella body of nine bank unions, to register their protest against the Centres proposed privatisation and disinvestment plan, will enter the second day on Tuesday.

The unions have said that the agitation may take a form similar to the farmers protests going on since November last year.

The nationwide strike comes in the backdrop of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamans announcement during the budget presentation last month that the government will privatise two more public sector banks after it divested the majority stake in IDBI Bank two years ago.

On the first day of the protest, scores of bank employees took to the streets across several states and raised slogans, including ‘save PSBs’, sustain social banking and safeguard peoples savings.

Nearly a million bank staff joined the protest on Monday, according to union leaders. The strike saw 100 per cent participation from scale I, II, and III bank employees, a bank official said. “These are assistant managers, managers and senior managers. At this level, there is 100 per cent participation in the strike and 80-90 per cent branches are headed by them,” the official said.