INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Employees of public sector banks will go on a two-days strike from tomorrowNew Delhi/Mumbai: Close to nine lakh employees of various
privatise two public sector lenders, union leaders said.Most of the banks, including State Bank of India (SBI), have already cautioned their
customers about the strike's possible impact on banking operations like cheque clearances and fund transfer.A conciliation meeting before
the Additional Chief Labour Commissioner on Wednesday failed, so unions are going ahead with their planned strike, All India Bank Officers'
Confederation (AIBOC) General Secretary Soumya Datta said.The government had in Budget 2021-22 announced its intent to take up privatisation
of two public sector banks (PSBs) during the year.The two-day strike on December 16 and 17 was called by the United Forum of Bank Unions
ministry participated in the conciliation meeting."We reiterated our stand that if the government would assure that the Bank Privatisation
Bill (Banking Laws Amendment Bill, 2021) would not be tabled during this session of the Parliament, we would be inclined to reconsider the
strike but the government could not give any such assurance to us," Venkatachalam said.Unions tried their best to avert the strike to avoid
inconvenience to public but the government was not forthcoming, he said, adding that the strike has been called to defend and preserve
PSBs.UFBU's convenor (Maharashtra) Devidas Tuljapurkar said around nine lakh bank employees and officers from various public sector banks,
old generation private sector banks and regional rural banks will participating in the strike.Public sector banks have always been at the
forefront in implementation of various government schemes, including demonetisation, Jan-Dhan Yojana, social sector insurance schemes and
Mudra schemes, he told reporters on Wednesday.He claimed that if PSBs are privatised, then bank branches in rural and backward regions will
be closed and implementation of all the government schemes meant for socially and economically weaker sections will get affected.Tuljapurkar
said bank employees right from sweepers to senior executives in scale 5 will observe the two-day strike and protests would be held across
the country.In Maharashtra, around 60,000 bank staffers will go on strike.Earlier on Monday, all public sector lenders including SBI had
requested unions to reconsider their decision and refrain from participating in the strike in the interest of customers, investors, and
