Two-day nationwide bank strike: Big banks urge to call off strike, services of THESE banks may be affected

New Delhi: The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) will go on a a two-day strike from December 16 to protest against the government's plan to privatise public sector banks.

State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Indian Bank and UCO Bank have said their operations will be affected due to the bank strikes on December 16 and December 17. However all these banks have urged that the strike be called off so that customers don't face any inconvenience. SBI has tweeted:

An appeal to all Bank Staff. pic.twitter.com/EZFGpfnK0a — State Bank of India (@TheOfficialSBI) December 13, 2021

Punjab National Bank has tweeted:

.@DFS_India pic.twitter.com/9DqAsWZmc8 — Punjab National Bank (@pnbindia) December 13, 2021

Central Bank of India has tweeted:

We attach appeals given to AICBEF/AICBOF to not to participate in the proposed strike on 16th & 17th of this month. @DFS_India @FinMinIndia pic.twitter.com/HaeMIEaEnN — Central Bank of India (@centralbank_in) December 13, 2021

Indian Bank tweeted:

To ensure seamless services to our customers, we have invited the leaders of majority Associations/ Unions for discussions and appealed to them for withdrawal of proposed strike call, given on 16th and 17th December 2021.#IndianBank #DFS@DFS_India — Indian Bank (@MyIndianBank) December 13, 2021

UCO Bank tweeted:

#UCOBank makes an humble request to it's Bank Unions to Call off the Nationwide Bank Strike in the interest of our Esteemed Customers. @DFS_India pic.twitter.com/tR8ZEGMuNW — UCO Bank (@UCOBankOfficial) December 13, 2021

Sanjay Das, general secretary of All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC), told news agency PTI that besides the two-day strike, a series of other agitational programmes will be held if the government does not give up the idea of privatisation of the banks.

In the budget speech of 2021, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that two public sector banks will be privatised during the current fiscal. 

The government has already privatised IDBI Bank by selling its majority stake in the lender to LIC in 2019, and has merged 14 public sector banks in the last four years.

UFBU is an umbrella organisation of nine bank unions. Members of UFBU include All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA) and Bank Employees Confederation of India (BEFI).

Others are the Indian National Bank Employees Federation (INBEF), Indian National Bank Officers Congress (INBOC), National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) and National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO).