BENGALURU: If your salaries are disbursed through any of the state-run banks, expect delays this month, as normal banking services are likely to be disrupted for the next 48 hours from Wednesday across India.
Bank employees of all state-run banks — including officers — as well as a few employees and officers belonging to unions of private banks, have decided to strike work on May 30 and 31 in protest against the proposed low wage-hike.
The strike call remains as talks held between the bank unions and the Union government failed on Tuesday.
Those drawing salaries directly from banks or doing direct banking transactions may particularly be inconvenienced. This may also affect admissions to schools and colleges if they insist on students/parents remitting fees through their bank accounts.
However, the strike will not affect online banking transactions such as net banking, mobile banking or ATM transactions, according to sources in State Level Banking Committee (SLBC).
Contending that Union government proposal to hike salaries by only two per cent was a casual approach, the bank unions demanded for an early wage-revision including that for all bank officers and improve service conditions of bank employees. Around 10 lakh bank employees are likely to participate in the strike across India.
The Union government proposed only a two per cent hike in wages, citing bad loans, as against the 15 per cent hike for bank employees and officials in the period between 2012 and 2017.
Sources in SLBC told The New Indian Express that the strike call was given at the national level by all the unions of banks. As all major unions of officials and clerical staff agreed to participate in the strike on May 30 and 31, normal functioning of the banks’ branches and their offices would definitely be affected.
But nobody will stop online transactions. To avoid inconvenience to the public, the banks have taken steps to fill more cash into ATMs in advance, sources said.