Banking services affected Wednesday because of strike

New Delhi, Dec 26 Operations at branches of public sector banks the nation over were affected Wednesday because of a strike by unions against the proposed merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda (BoB).

The strike has been called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) - an umbrella association of each of the 9 unions including the All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC), the All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE) and the National Organization of Bank Workers (NOBW).

According to AIBEA General Secretary C H Vekatachalam, the strike is effective across the country and employees are fighting for a right cause.

However, branches of new generation private sector banks stay unaffected by the strike called by UFBU, which professes to have enrollment of almost 10 lakh bank workers and officers across 21 public sector banks.

This is the second bank strike in less than a week.

Last Friday (December 21), an officers' association of state-run banks observed a day-long strike to protest against the merger and also demanded immediate settlement of wage negotiations.

Most of the banks have already informed customers about the strike.