Holidays, strike to keep banks closed for seven days this month

In the second fortnight of March, those wishing to undertake offline transactions in public sector banks may face problems for there will be no work in these banks for seven days between March 17 and March 29

In the second fortnight of March, those wishing to undertake offline transactions in public sector banks may face problems for there will be no work in these banks for seven days between March 17 and March 29. Though banking activities on mobile and internet will remain uninterrupted, as per the work calendar, there will be holidays in banks for five days between March 17 and March 29 while the bank employees will be on strike on the call of trade unions for another two days.

There will be no work in public sector banks for seven days between March 17 and March 29 (For Representation)

Bank officials say there will be holiday on the account of Holi on March 17 and March 18. While the banks will open on March 19, March 20 is Sunday. Likewise, fourth Saturday is falling on March 26 because of which the banks would remain closed on the day followed by another Sunday on March 27.

On March 28 and 29, all government bank employees on the call of their trade unions will be participating in an all-India strike. To mark their protest against various policy tweaks pushed by the Union government in the banking sector, All India Central Bank Employees’ Federation, a body of employees in public sector banks, and All India Bank Employees’ Association have decided to launch an all-India strike. The federation had first announced the strike on February 23 and February 24 but in the wake of Covid-19 situation and assembly polls in many states, it was postponed.

Their union leaders said unless the Centre withdrew its proposal to privatise public sector banks as well as Banking Laws Amendment Bill-2021, the strike would go ahead as planned. Confirming the strike, president of UP Bank Employees’ Union, Prayagraj, Madanji Upadhyay said main demands of the bank employees include strengthening of the public sector banks by stopping privatisation of banks, starting recovery of bad loans, increasing rate of interest on bank deposits, not burdening customers with high service charges, scraping NPS and restoring DA linked pension scheme, putting a stop to outsourcing and starting fresh recruitments besides regularising all contractual employees and banks’ business correspondents.