New Delhi The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has called for a two-day bank strike from 15 March. This umbrella organization of bank unions has called for this strike to protest against the proposed privatization of two public sector banks. If this strike happens in mid-March, banks will not be functioning for four consecutive days. The reason for this is that due to the second Saturday, March 13 will be a holiday in banks. Due to it being Sunday on March 14, banks will not be functioning. This proposed strike on 15 and 16 March may affect the functioning of banks.
Last week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a proposal to privatize two banks to the public sector in the budget of 2021-22. Sitharaman made this announcement regarding privatization of banks as part of the government’s disinvestment program.
The government has already privatized this bank by selling majority stake of IDBI Bank to LIC. With this, the work of privatization of 14 public sector banks has been completed in the last four years.
All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) General Secretary CH Venkatachalam said the government’s decision to privatize banks was opposed at the UFBU meeting on Tuesday.
He said, “IDBI Bank and public sector privatization of two other banks, setting up of bad bank, disinvestment of LIC, establishment of a general insurance company, raising FDI limit in insurance sector to 74 percent and disinvestment of public sector companies Like the measures announced in the budget by the central government were discussed in the meeting.
AIBOC general secretary Soumya Dutta said that after deliberations, a strike was decided on 15 and 16 March to protest against these announcements.
