All-India strike to hit banking services hard

New Delhi: Trade unions have called for a nation-wide strike against price rise, privatisation of public sector undertakings, withdrawal of new pension scheme and a host of other issues on Tuesday. The all-India strike is being supported by eight major trade unions.

The major demands of the trade unions include rehabilitation of the workers who lost their jobs due to the economic recession and for Rs 50,000 crore for an unorganised workers' social security fund. The government has only allocated Rs 1,000 crore for 40 crore unorganised workers in the country.

The trade unions which have called the strike include Congress-affiliated Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-affiliated Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS). The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is close to the Bharatiya Janata Party has not yet revealed its position.

Banking operations are expected to be paralysed across the country with the All-India Bank Employees Association also joining the strike to protest against the grant of licences to private banks.

Nearly 10 lakh employees from 27 public sector banks, 18 foreign banks, 26 private banks, 82 regional rural banks and 1,721 cooperative banks will participate in the strike, an All-India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) statement issued in Mumbai on Sunday said.

AIBEA has opposed FDI in private sector banks and demanded the expansion of the public sector banks' network from 40,000 branches to 1,00,000 across the country.

"Expansion of public sector banks network is necessary for reaching out to the poorest of the poor for making the financial inclusion model of the RBI a success," AIBEA Secretary Vishwas Utagi said.

Besides bankers, nearly 44 crore employees, including those from the organised and unorganised sectors and industries, will participate in the strike, he said.

Various state governments have instructed police and civli authorities to be on high alert and take stringent action against anyone trying to break law and order and public peace during the strike.