Bank strike in India: Alert! 4 lakh employees to go on two-day nationwide strike from this date

About four lakh bank employees will go on tow-day strike across the country on September 26 and 27 to protest against the government's decision of public sector banks' merger.  These employees say that the merger of public sector banks is against the interest of general public and they are protesting in the interest of customers.

All India Bank Officers' Confederation's (AIBOC) state unit secretary R Sekaran told new agency ANI that Central government did not consult with the bank employees and the people before taking the decision of merger. These employees also demand for solving some issues like pending wage revision, reduction in service charges levied by banks on customers and ensuring adequate staffing. According to the reports, about Rs 48,000 crore worth of transactions will be affected in a day due to this strike.

The government earlier announced merger of 10 public sector banks into four. The government said that this plan was to create fewer and stronger global-sized public sector lenders.

Under the PSU bank merger plan, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank merger will be merged with Punjab National Bank (PNB), while Syndicate Bank and Canara Bank will be merged together.  Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank will be merged with Union Bank of India.

Allahabad Bank will be merged with Indian Bank, creating the seventh largest public sector bank with ₹8.08 lakh crore business. The government last year had merged Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank with Bank of Baroda.

After the mergers, there will be 12 public sector banks in the country. However, Uco Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Punjab and Sind Bank, Bank of India and Central Bank of India will continue to remain separate entities.