Winning Bizness Desk

Two-day nationwide strike of trade unions against the policies of the government has started from Monday Morning. Some unions of bank workers are also supporting this strike. However, the Officers Association of the country's largest state-run bank SBI claims that the strike will not have any significant impact on the functioning of the bank. Ravindra Gupta, General Secretary, Delhi Unit of SBI Officers Association said that the strike will not have any significant impact on SBI's banking services. He said that only three organizations of bank employees Union All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), Union All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) are supporting the strike. The officers' associations AIBOC, NOBO and INBOC and the clerical staff's organizations NCBE, INBEF and NOBW are not involved in the strike.

SBI's 2.7 lakh employees not in this strike

Ravindra Gupta said that most of the officers of SBI are members of AIBOC while most of the clerical staff of the bank are attached with NCBE. SBI's 2.7 lakh employees are not taking part in this strike. These include one lakh officers and 1.6 lakh clerks. There are a total of 9.7 lakh officers and employees in the banking industry. This strike is basically of workers. It has the support of more than 10 trade unions of the country. These include workers in the organized and unorganized sector.

Ensure normal functioning

Meanwhile, SBI Bank in a regulatory filing said that it has been asked to take necessary steps to ensure normal functioning of its branches and offices during the strike. The bank says that due to the strike, the functioning of the bank may be affected to some extent.

20 Cr people are expected in Bharat Bandh

Amarjit Kaur, general general secretary of the All Indian Trade Union Congress, said that about 20 crore people are expected to participate in Bharat Bandh. Strike notices have been given by trade unions in many sectors including Coal, Steel, Oil, Telecom, Postal, Income Tax, Copper, Banks, Insurance. This strike has been called by the joint forum of central trade unions and unions of different sectors in protest against the government policies.

Stop all forms of privatization

These trade unions have made some demands from the government. These include stopping all forms of privatization and abolishing the labor code. The central trade unions that are part of this joint forum include INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, ACTU, LPF and UTUC.