The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA) will observe strike on 13 July to protest against the government’s decision to merge associate banks with State Bank of India. The two unions altogether have a strength of around 3.5 lakh bank staff.
Around 45,000 employees in the associate banks of SBI will also go for an all India strike against the decision on 12 July. The organisations will conduct demonstrations and Dharnas in various locations on June 20 and 30, prior to the strike. AIBEA alleges the attempt is to consolidate the banks to make them bigger with a view to globalise them instead of expanding the banks and reach the common people within the country. AIBEA general secretary C H Venkatachalam said the impact of the merger would be that five banks will be closed and their business will be merged with SBI and many branches will be closed, said C H Venkatachalam. In the name of banking sector reforms, the attempt is to privatise the banks and hand them over to the private corporates to enable them to further loot the precious savings of the people, he alleged.
