Officers’ unions of public sector banks have deferred the proposed two-day strike, September 26-27, after finance secretary Rajiv Kumar assured that the government would look into their concerns.

Four unions of bank officers had threatened to go on a strike to protest against the consolidation of 10 state-run lenders into four. The strike call by bank unions had threatened to paralyse the banking network for four days as the next two days after the proposed strike were bank holidays.

“Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar was positive in formation of a committee consisting of all concerned to address the issues arising out of the proposed merger of 10 banks including preserving the identity of all the banks. An appeal was made to us to revisit our strike call in view of the discussions,” a joint statement said issued on Monday.

5 things to know about the postponed bank strike:

THE IMPACT

The strike would not have not only affected transactions at bank branches but also the ATMs. It was being feared that if banks are shut for four days, several ATMs would run dry by the weekend. But, the union’s decision deferring the strike has brought relief.

THREAT LOOMS

The statement of the bank unions signals that they can again give another call for strike at a later date if their demands are not met as the word used is ‘deferred’ and not ‘called off’.

SUPPORT FOR STRIKE

The bank unions had claimed support of about 4 lakh bank employees. The four unions that backed the strike call were: All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA), Indian National Bank Officers’ Congress (INBOC) and National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO).

UNIONS’ CONCERNS

Bank mergers, wage revision, introduction of full 5-day week, reduction of cash transaction hours, issues related to retired employees and also scrapping of third party products were among the concerns raised during the meeting with the finance secretary.

POSITIVE RESPONSE

“Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar was positive in formation of a committee consisting of all concerned to address the issues arising out of the proposed merger of 10 banks including preserving the identity of all the banks. An appeal was made to us to revisit our strike call in view of the discussions,” a joint statement by bank unions said.

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