Bankers' strike halts clearing transactions of Rs 500 Cr-600 Cr

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: A one-day token strike was called in the city on Tuesday by the members of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) with the main demand of implementing a five-day work week.

In the backdrop of this strike, strong demonstrations were held at Punjab National Bank (PNB), Adalat Road.

All the bank transactions in the city and district came to a standstill because of this protest and clearing transactions of Rs 500 crore to 600 crore were disrupted.

The protest began with strong slogans. UFBU convener and Rajendra Deole from Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) conducted the proceedings. Lalit Nikumbh of NCB said that the number of employees in banks had decreased significantly, but the workload had increased tremendously.

“As a result, employees and officers are working under physical and mental stress. About 82 per cent of employees and officers are facing various health problems because of the lack of work-life balance,” he said.

Another union leader, Satish Ghuge, strongly protested against the government's neglect in implementing a five-day work week in the country, while discussions are underway for a four-day work week abroad.

Ajay Borse of BoI and Ravindra Sutwane of Bank of Baroda said that a five-day work week is essential. Rahul Salunkhe, Rajshree Varudkar, Swati Chavan and Nilesh Kharat supported the protest with slogans.

Devidas Tuljapurkar expressed confidence that this struggle is for the rights of bank employees, and success has been achieved in every struggle so far. He expressed certainty that success would be achieved in this protest as well.

He also said that the top leadership would decide on a two-day, three-day, or indefinite strike in the next phase. Nearly 500 to 600 employees and officers participated in this protest. The participation of women was significant. Pranav Kaushike proposed a vote of thanks.