NEW DELHI: All India Bank Employees Association has decided to conduct a series of bank-wise, state-level and all-India strikes from December 4 to January 20, 2024. The strike is against an acute shortage of banking staff and reluctance from banks to hire adequate employees, the union said in a statement.
The union announced a two-day strike from January 19-20, 2024, across the country in all banks, including private banks. Initially, employees from PNB, Punjab & Sind Bank, SBI, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, UCO Bank, Indian Bank, Union Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra have called strike from December 4-8. Later all employees in the union will strike across regions from January 2-6. They have also decided to call a strike on December 11 at all private banks.
In recent years, while the number of customers and total volume of business has increased, the consequent workload on the employees has gone up unbearably as they don’t have adequate staff strength in the banks, the union alleged. The vacancies arising out of retirements, promotions, and deaths are not being filled up and additional staff are not being provided in branches to cope up with the increase in business. Shortage of workforce is also adversely affecting customer satisfaction and resulting in friction and complaints from the customers.
All India Bank Employees Association said there is a deliberate attempt on the part of the government and banks to reduce the number of employees in clerical and subordinate cadres in banks and to increase the number of supervisory staff.