One million employees from nearly 80,000 branches of state and private sector banks in India joined a one-day strike on July 29, chiefly against the privatisation of state-owned banks by the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP)-led government.
India’s financial sectors were virtually paralysed, affecting about 75 percent of the daily average of paper-clearing transactions. The strike was called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine trade unions.
Lack of recruitment over the past two decades has led to more than 300,000 vacancies in the public sector banks, increasing the workload of the remaining workers. Bank employees are also opposing the outsourcing of jobs and demanding that new appointments be made through the Banking Services Recruitment Board.
The privatisation and merger of state banks is part of the government’s broader plan to privatise public enterprises to attract foreign investment. In June, the government announced it was opening up nine previously restricted economic sectors, including civil aviation, single-brand retail stores such as Apple and IKEA, pharmaceuticals and military production, to 100 percent foreign direct investment and ownership. Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasted that India would be “the most open economy in the world for FDI.”
Fearing that the strike would spread into other sectors, Chief Central Labour Commissioner A. S. Nayak called a “conciliation” meeting on July 26, which was attended by the unions, the Indian Banks Association (IBA) and the finance ministry. He appealed for “dialogue so that this strike is averted.”
The UFBU was nevertheless compelled to go ahead with the strike because of growing restiveness among bank employees against the government’s move to privatise banks, which would result in the destruction of tens of thousands of jobs and hard-won conditions.
One million employees from nearly 80,000 branches of state and private sector banks in India joined a one-day strike on July 29, chiefly against the privatisation of state-owned banks by the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP)-led government.
India’s financial sectors were virtually paralysed, affecting about 75 percent of the daily average of paper-clearing transactions. The strike was called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine trade unions.
Lack of recruitment over the past two decades has led to more than 300,000 vacancies in the public sector banks, increasing the workload of the remaining workers. Bank employees are also opposing the outsourcing of jobs and demanding that new appointments be made through the Banking Services Recruitment Board.
The privatisation and merger of state banks is part of the government’s broader plan to privatise public enterprises to attract foreign investment. In June, the government announced it was opening up nine previously restricted economic sectors, including civil aviation, single-brand retail stores such as Apple and IKEA, pharmaceuticals and military production, to 100 percent foreign direct investment and ownership. Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasted that India would be “the most open economy in the world for FDI.”
Fearing that the strike would spread into other sectors, Chief Central Labour Commissioner A. S. Nayak called a “conciliation” meeting on July 26, which was attended by the unions, the Indian Banks Association (IBA) and the finance ministry. He appealed for “dialogue so that this strike is averted.”
The UFBU was nevertheless compelled to go ahead with the strike because of growing restiveness among bank employees against the government’s move to privatise banks, which would result in the destruction of tens of thousands of jobs and hard-won conditions.