Banking operations paralysed

Tirupati: Banking operations in Chittoor district came to a standstill with the employees including officers observed strike as part of the nationwide protest, seeking wage revision, on Tuesday.

With the employees of private banks too struck work to express solidarity to the personnel of PSU banks, transactions up to Rs 1,000 crore affected on Tuesday. At many places including Chittoor, Tirupati and other places, the striking employees took out rallies and staged dharnas.

In Tirupati, the bank employees under the banner of ‘United Forum of Bank Unions’ (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of bank employees unions which is spearheading the nationwide stir for wage revision, went in a procession from Andhra Bank main branch to SBH main branch. There they staged a dharna and raised slogans denouncing the IBA (Indian Bank Association) for adamant stand against the demands of the bank employees.

Addressing the gathering, Bank Employees Joint Action Committee (JAC) Dhanvanth Kumar said that despite 14 rounds of discussions held between the IBA and UFBU, it failed to break the ice as IBA insisted on providing 11 per cent hike against the bank unions’ demand for 25 per cent hike. He said that the UFBU now agreed for 23 per cent hike in wage revision but the IBA is still to consider it, resulting in the employees going on nationwide stir for achieving their main demand.

UFBU convener L Chandrasekhar said that the bank employees’ pay scale was now less compared to State and Central government employees and criticized the IBA’s rigid stand and insisting on 11 percent hike which is not all justified, keeping in view the escalation of the cost of living because of spiraling prices.