Alert For SBI Customers: Massive Bank Strike On March 15, 16 Will Impact Banking Operations

A gentle reminder for the SBI account holders as the working of the State Bank of India may get affected on 15 and 16 March due to a 2-day nationwide bank strike. 

Massive Bank Strike

The sources say that the bank employees’ unions have come up with a strike to protest against the government’s move to privatize public sector banks.

“We have been advised by Indian Banks Association (IBA) that United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU)… has given a call for an all India strike by bank employees on 15th & 16th March 2021,” said SBI during an exchange filing on March 10.

Normal Functioning Of Branches

In the meantime, SBI has made all the arrangements to ensure normal functioning in its branches and offices.

According to them, it is least likely that the work in the bank may be impacted by the strike.

As a precautionary measure, if you have some urgent bank work that needs to be done, it would be better to complete it by today or tomorrow.

Bank Strike Dates

If we talk about the dates then the banks will be closed on 13 March (Second Saturday), 14th is a Sunday, then 15th 16th (Monday, Tuesday -bank strike).

An umbrella body of nine unions, the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU)  called for a nationwide bank strike on March 15 and 16. 

As earlier said, the UFBU consists of nine major unions including All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA), Indian National Bank Employees Federation (INBEF), Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), Indian National Bank Officers’ Congress (INBOC), National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) and National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO).

Why Would This Happen?

During Budget 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the privatization of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) as part of a disinvestment drive to garner Rs 1.75 lakh crore.

At that time, she said, “Other than IDBI Bank, we propose to take up the privatization of two Public Sector Banks and one General Insurance company in the year 2021-22,”.

Afterworld, the Finance Minister had said the government will work with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the execution of the bank privatization plan announced in the Union Budget 2021-22, during one of the post Budget interactions.

Last year, the government had consolidated 10 public sector banks into four and reduced the number of PSBs to 12 from 27 in March 2017.