Bank Strike Alert: Banks in Maharashtra and Haryana will remain open for only three days this week on account of the Assembly Elections in the states and bank unions strike. Banks to remain closed for the of the country only on Tuesday and not on Monday.
Bank will remain close in Haryana and Maharashtra due to polling in the state. Banks will be open in the union territory of Chandigarh, which serves as the capital of both Haryana and Punjab on Monday.
Bank employees unions have called a rike on October 22 against the Centre's decision to merge 10 state-run Public Sector Banks (PSBs) into four. The two unions of bank employees -- All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) have jointly called for the strike. Due to this, banking operations could be hit all over the country
The Bank Unions are opposing the merger of; Punjab National Bank with United Bank of India Oriental Bank of Commerce, Syndicate Bank with Canara Bank, Allahabad Bank with Indian Bank Andhra Bank with Corporation Bank and Union Bank of India.
In a joint statement, the unions said that the strike call is to oppose bank mergers and banking reforms and high penal and service charges for customers. Other demands include recovery of bad loans, stringent action on defaulters charges and job security
Bank of Maharashtra, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Syndicate Bank and Bank of Baroda have warned their operations may be impacted due to the call of strike as per regulatory filings.
Bank of Baroda said that the operations of its branches/officer may be "affected/paralyzed" due to proposed strike.
Bank will remain open in Maharashtra and Haryana for only three days this week due to strike, elections and other bank holidays. As banks are closed on every second and fourth Saturdays of the month, this Saturday will also be a bank holiday. Also, this year Diwali falls on Sunday.
The State Bank of India (SBI), however, said the impact would be minimal as most of its employees are not members of the participating unions.
In August, the government announced mega-merger plans for state-run banks in a bid to strengthen the country's financial sector, a move which it said would bring down the number of public sector banks (PSBs) in the system to 12 from 27.
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