The two-day nationwide bank strike ended on Wednesday while the employees of public sector insurance companies went on a strike on March 17, which will continue on March 18 as well.
The unions of the insurance companies are observing the strike on different dates. The Joint Front of Unions in public sector general insurance companies decided to go on a one-day strike on March 17 against privatisation and FDI hike in insurance. The unions of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) have decided to go on a one-day strike against the initial public offer (IPO) of the public insurance giant on March 18. The National Federation of Insurance Field Workers' of India (NFIFWI) has decided to go on a two-hour walk-out strike on the same day.
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Services like claim settlement, premium collection, payments at the offices of these insurance companies and underwriting of policies are likely to get affected due to the strike.
{{/usCountry}}Services like claim settlement, premium collection, payments at the offices of these insurance companies and underwriting of policies are likely to get affected due to the strike.
{{/usCountry}}The joint strike called by public sector general insurance companies unions and LIC unions was announced by the All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA) on March 5.
"It is a matter of great satisfaction that all the Unions in LIC have decided to go on One Day Strike against the IPO of LIC on the 18th of March 2021. The NFIFWI has decided to go on a two hours walk-out Strike on the same day. Similarly, the Joint Front of Unions in PSGI Companies has decided to go on One Day Strike on 17th March 2021 against privatisation and FDI hike in insurance," the AIIEA circular signed by joint secretary Shreekant Mishra read.
Farmers' umbrella union Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has also pledged support to the strike of LIC and PSGI employees during a joint meeting with the central trade unions.
"The alliance between insurance employees and the central trade unions on the one hand and the farmers on the other is a classic display of peasants’-workers’ alliance in the cause of public sector and self-reliant economic development of India," the union said.
The AIIEA representatives had also met with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and other MPs last month to oppose the IPO of LIC.
The Joint Front Union comprising of AIIEA, Federation of Class I Officers’ Associations, NFIFWI and All India LIC Employees’ Federation, on March 8, wrote a letter to the Lok Sabha speaker requesting him to advise the government of delinking the amendments to the LIC Act 1956 as part of the Finance Bill that facilitates the listing of LIC on stock markets.
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"The listing of LIC will have far-reaching consequences to the interests of its 40 crore policyholders and the national economy as a whole. The proposed amendments through a Finance Bill will escape close scrutiny of a very important economic decision," the letter read.
During the Union Budget presentation, Sitharaman said that the government will privatise two more public sector banks and list LIC on bourses. The government has merged 14 public lenders in four years.