All the banks in the country will go on a one-day strike on February 23 to show their solidarity towards employees of the Central Bank who have planned an indefinite strike from February 22 to protest the alleged highhanded behaviour of the bank's management.
The proposed strike is expected to impact the public offer the bank plans within the near future.
The decision to support the Central Bank employees' strike was taken at the meeting called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) in Mumbai on Tuesday. Convener of UFBU, Praful Kumar Patnaik confirmed the call for an all India strike on February 23.
"All nine unions under the UFBU support the Central Bank of India employees' strike and have decided to go on a one-day strike on February 23," he said. Close to nine lakh bankmen will strike work on the issues confronting staffers of Central Bank. The employees decided to agitate after the bank management initiated disciplinary proceedings against 7,000 employees and officers of the bank for participating in a strike on January 22.
The call for the January strike was given by the United Forum of Central Bank Unions (UFCBU), an umbrella body for all major bank unions.
The UFCBU had later given a call for a "continuous strike" last week and decided to approach the UFBU for support. The UFBU on Tuesday heard the arguments favouring the strike and extended support in the form of one-day all banks strike.
The Central Bank management has issued chargesheets against officers and employees who, while participating in the January strike, allegedly took with them the keys to cash counters, currency chests and branches.
The UFCBU sees this as deliberate subjugation of union activity and has claimed that the bank should have made alternative arrangements to collect the keys from such staffers when the strike notice had been served very much in advance.
The UFCBU has also urged members not to respond to any of the "provocative communications of the management related to the agitation". In effect, this means that the 7,000-odd bankmen being chargesheeted will not cooperate in the disciplinary proceedings which could lead to demotions, suspensions and, in extreme cases, even dismissal.
The UFCBU has also asked bankmen to stage demonstrations at various centres between February 7 and 14, hold dharnas at all zonal offices and central office of the bank between February 7 and 18. The members have also been asked to work to rule and only during office hours.
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