Employees of all state-run banks will strike work on Wednesday to protest against privatisation and merger of public sector banks.
The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), the All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), and the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) have jointly called the strike. "Since the government has been insensitive to our long pending demands, we are constrained to go on strike," said AIBOA (Delhi State) general secretary Satyendra Singh Shishodia.
About 80,000 employees of the State Bank of India (SBI) and its seven associate banks went on strike Monday in protest the government's decision to merge the State of Saurashtra with the SBI.
The bank employees are demanding a ban on foreign investment in the banking sector, an increase in interest rates on savings deposit, control on price rise, and plugging credit for trading in food grain.
"The skyrocketing prices adversely impact economy which is managed by the banking institutions. It is the bank which suffers in the long run if inflationary trends are not curtailed," Shishodia said.