July 28 strike won't hit banking operations

The one-day all-India strike called on July 28 is not likely to severely affect the working of most banks, since as many as six constituents of the United Forum of Bank Unions - the common platform of bank employee unions in the country - are not participating in the strike.

Of the total nine unions affiliated to the UFBU, only AIBEA and AIBOA (having allegiance to the CPI) and the Bank Employees Federation of India, having an intimate association with CPI (M), will be actively participating in the strike.

Other organisations like INBEF, INBOC (having allegiance to the Congress), NOBW, NOBO (the BJP), AIBOC and NCBE have decided to keep away from the strike.

They will, however, extend moral support. This is for the first time since the formation of the UFBU in 1997 that six organisations have decided not to participate in an all-India strike.

A senior trade union leader in the banking sector said the unilateral approach of AIBEA, AIBOA and the BEFI had dented the unity among the employees, though all were unanimously supporting the demands raised by the strike-callers.

He added that AIBEA and AIBOA had earlier decided to keep away from work on August 1 but later, after consulting with the BEFI, advanced the date to July 28.

"The reason for the three organisations calling the unilateral strike is unknown and, now, there is a parallel split in the UFBU over the issue. This will apparently weaken the unity among the bank employees and will strengthen the anti-employee attitude of the management," the union leader said.

Meanwhile, it is certain that the strike will no way affect the working of major banks such as SBI, IOB, BoB and Kerala-based banks like South Indian Bank and Catholic Syrian Bank, as the three entities have a very meagre presence in these banks.

For the banking sector, during the last nine years, this has turned out to be a very fragmented and, hence, rather weak strike call at the all-India level, and most of the employees are absolutely disappointed.

The strike is for stopping the outsourcing of services, withdrawing the proposed amendments of SBI, the RBI and Banking Regulation Acts and filling up the vacancies lying in various banks.

The strike is not expected to evoke a good response, because as many as six large organisations are not participating, some industry sources said.