2-Day Bank Strike: 40,000 Bank Employees take part in Odisha

KalingaTV News Network

Bhubaneswar: Around 40, 000 bank employees of 21 public sector banks, including State Bank of India (SBI), across Odisha are taking part in two-day nation-wide strike to press their demand for wage revision.

The strike, starting from today, has been called by all unions under the umbrella of United Forum of Bank Unions.

The banking operations of over 5000 branches of 21 public sector banks will likely be affected in the state. As the bank strike coincides with the month end, salary withdrawals are likely to get affected. ATM transactions may also take a hit. Besides, deposit in branches, FD renewal, government treasury operation, money market operation would see the impact of the strike.

The bank strike comes after a two per cent salary hike failed to convince the bank unions and several rounds of talks between banks and the unions of their employees did not make any headway.

In the last wage revision in 2012, which was for the period between November 1, 2012, and October 31, 2017, bank employees got a 15 per cent wage hike and AIBOC Joint General Secretary Ravinder Gupta said the unions were expecting a better salary increase this time.

Meanwhile, the private sector banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, are functioning normally today.