Bank Unions Call for 2-day Strike on Sept 26-27

Four officers'unions of public sector banks plan to protest against the recently-announcedmega-merger of 10 state-run banks into four by going on a two-day strikestarting September 26.

The four unions, namely All India Bank Officers' Confederation, All India Bank Officers' Association, Indian National Bank Officers' Congress and National Organisation of Bank Officers have announced the strike.

The SBI in a regulatory said that while the bank has made all arrangements to ensure normal functioning in its branches and offices, it is likely that work in SBI may be impacted to some extent by the strike.

The fourunions have given a call for a pan-India strike by bank employees on September26 and 27, 2019.

As per the plan, the United Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce are to be merged with Punjab National Bank, making the proposed entity the second largest public sector bank (PSB).

On theother hand, Syndicate Bank is to be merged with Canara Bank, while AllahabadBank will be merged with Indian Bank. Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank willamalgamate with the Union Bank of India.

Bank of Baroda merged with Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank earlier this year to become the second-largest public sector lender.

Meanwhile,SBI had merged five of its associate banks- State Bank of Patiala, State Bankof Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore and StateBank of Hyderabad and also Bhartiya Mahila effective April 2017.