Bank employees go on nationwide strike, operations hit partially

New Delhi: Banking operations were hit partially on Friday as a section of public sector banks' employees went on a strike across the country to protest violation of bilateral settlement agreement by associate banks of SBI.

Some of the services, like cash handling at branch level and clearing of checks were affected in the banks where presence of All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) is strong.

Private sector banks and country's largest lender SBI continues to function normally. As precautionary measures, most of the banks, including United Bank of India, had issued advisory to their customers saying they will take all necessary steps in terms of existing guidelines for smooth functioning of branches or offices on the day of strike, in the event it materialises on January 8.

The strike call was given on December 28 to protest violation of the bilateral settlement by five associate banks of the SBI and their attempt to force unilateral service conditions on the employees, AIBEA general secretary C H Venkatachalam had said. Five subsidiaries of SBI are State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur.