PSU banks' staff go on strike; operations hit

New Delhi: Cheque clearances, withdrawing and depositing of money in public sector bank branches were hit across the country as their employees went on a one-day strike today to press for wage revision and other demands.

Private sector banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were functioning normally because their staff are not on strike. All the members affiliated to nine bank employees and officers unions have gone on strike, United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) convener C H Venkatachalam said.

Banks including country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) had informed the customers well in advance about the likely inconvenience due to strike. General Secretary of National Organisation of Bank Workers Ashwini Rana said Indian Banks' Association (IBA) held discussions with UFBU on December 14 on wage revision.

After a lot of deliberations, IBA stated they would be able to offer an increase of 5 per cent over the wage expenses. Since their offer was too low and not acceptable to the unions, it has been decided to go ahead with the strike, Rana said.

The wage revision of bank employees was due from November 2012. UFBU is an umbrella organisation of nine bank employees and officers unions. There are 27 public sector banks in the country with employees strength of about 8 lakh. There are about 50,000 branches of these banks across the country.