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:

Punjab National Bank has tweeted:

Central Bank of India has tweeted:

Indian Bank tweeted:

UCO Bank tweeted:

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).