By IANS,
Kolkata : Banking activities in West Bengal came to a standstill as most union members joined the two-day nationwide strike from Wednesday to protest against the proposed Banking Sector Reform Bill.
Shutters at most of the ATMs of the public sector as well as private sector banks in the state were down as the personnel guarding the machines participated in the stir.
The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine major bank employees associations, decided to go ahead with the two-day strike as the reconciliation talks called by the chief labour commission failed.
“About 10,000 bank employees joined the strike today (Wednesday). Almost all the bank branches, except Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and Cooperative Banks, are closed since the morning,” Gautam Bose, general secretary, UFBU (West Bengal state unit), told IANS.
“ATMs are closed as the personnel guarding the machines belong to two unions which have also joined the strike,” Bose said.
The strike is opposing outsourcing of work to outside agencies, and other “anti-labour” policies, jeopardising jobs in the banking sector and aimed at undermining the collective bargaining strength.
The Banking Laws Amendment Bill, 2011, which is to come up for approval in parliament, contains provisions such as raising shareholders’ voting rights from 10 percent to 26 percent in private banks and supersession of bank boards.