Bankers strike enters second day, operations affected

Normal-banking operations continued to be affected by a public sector banks employees strike on Friday.

New Delhi, Aug 7 : Normal-banking operations continued to be affected by a public sector banks employee's strike on Friday.

Cheque clearings were hit badly on Thursday and ATM may go dry on Friday.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee expressed hope that the strike might come to an end today, as talks between the IBA and UFBU are progressing.

On Thursday, the strike reverberated in Parliament as Left Front members urged the government to hold a dialogue with the striking employees. The members argued that a prolonged confrontation between the staff and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) might put the entire financial system in jeopardy.

The Labour Commission has convened a meeting with bank unions at 3 p.m. on Friday to resolve the issue, sources said.

Major private sector and foreign banks partly offset the effect of the strike. However, the impact was clearly visible as public sector banks control over 70 per cent of banking operations in the country.

United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) is demanding a wage revision, a second option for pension scheme, implementation of compassionate appointment, ex-gratia etc.

The UFBU is also claiming that some of the banks in the private sectors have joined the strike.

Industry and commerce pressure groups are demanding the imposition of the Essential Service Maintenance Act (ESMA) on striking employees.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sources said it received only 70,000 cheques for clearing on Thursday against the normal of over 600,000 cheques

ANI