Bank strike today: A 2-day stop-work protest that was started today by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine bank unions, has hit banking transactions worth a whopping Rs 21,700 crore across the country. More than 10 lakh bank employees are demanding wage revision and they boycotted their work. The day witnessed bank staff holding demonstrations across the country to push for an early conclusion of wage negotiations.
 
"The strike call evoked good response. About 85,000 bank branches, including that of State Bank of India (SBI) and some private banks, spread across the country were closed," C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees` Association (AIBEA), said.
 
When asked about value and volume of money instruments that would not be cleared by the bank`s clearing houses, Venkatachalam reportedly said, "On an all-India basis, clearance of 39 lakh instruments with a value of Rs 21,700 crore per day would be impacted. The above value and volume were the averages of last 15 days clearance of instruments."
 
The AIBEA Secretary said the unions had requested the Indian Banks` Association (IBA) to come up with better offer than mere 2% hike offer, so that the strike could be averted. He said that the IBA was also asked not to delink the wage negotiations for bank officers in the scales 4-7, but it failed to do anything.
 
Earlier on Monday, the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) had reportedly asked the IBA not to raise new controversies like delinking the wage talks for officers in the 4-7 scale. 
 
"Though the CLC tried its best to sort out the strike issues, there is no positive developments. Hence the strike on May 30 and 31 stands," All India Bank Officers` Confederation (AIBOC) General Secretary D.T. Franco had stated earlier.
 
With regard to the coverage of officers from Scale 4-7, Venkatachalam said, the IBA said it did not get the mandate from six banks as they opted to cover officers up to Scale 3 level, adding that 14 banks have, however, given the mandate for covering the officers up to Scale 7 in wage negotiations as was done in the previous wage settlement negotiations.
 
He said that the Centre also advised the IBA to conclude the wage issue before November, 2017. Notably, the wage revision in the banks is due from November 1, 2017.
 
Franco told IANS: "Six banks, SBI, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Indian Bank, are not in favour of including Scale 4-7 officers under the wage negotiations." 
 
Bank unions had submitted the Charter of Demands in May, 2017 and discussions commenced with them that month. But even though several rounds of discussions had taken place in the last one year, the IBA did not come forward to make any offer.
 
Union leaders of the striking employees reportedly said that the response of the strike today was good across the country including in the eight northeastern states.

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Meanwhile, industry lobby body ASSOCHAM has urged the UFBU to call off the strike as it might affect customer transactions worth up to Rs 20,000 crore. "Considering such a precarious situation, we at ASSOCHAM would urge the government to come up with a stimulus plan which must include restoring the PSBs to health," ASSOCHAM`s Secretary General D.S. Rawat was quoted as saying in a statement.