10 lakh bankers to strike work on August 22

Chennai, Aug 18 (IANS) Around 10 lakh bankers will go on strike on August 22 as the talks between the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) on one side and Indian Banks’ Association, Chief Labour Commissioner and Department of Financial Services (DFS) failed on Friday, said a union leader.

The Forum is an umbrella body of nine unions in the Indian banking sector.

The UFBU has given notice of a nationwide strike on August 22 to protest against reforms in the banking sector and other issues.

"The officials from IBA and DFS said there is no merger of government-owned banks or privatisation in the immediate future and urged us to withdraw our strike call. The talks were not satisfactory as there was nothing concrete coming from their side," D. Thomas Franco Rajendra Dev, General Secretary of the All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) told IANS after the meeting.

He said that around 10 lakh bankers working in around 132,000 branches would be on strike on August 22.