Lucknow: In response to the call by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), bank employees staged protests and demonstrations at the headquarters of several nationalized banks this evening. The protests were held ahead of the nationwide bank strike scheduled for March 24 and 25.
UFBU District Coordinator Anil Srivastava stated that the bank employees are demanding:
- Implementation of a five-day banking workweek,
- Regularization of temporary employees,
- Adequate recruitment in all categories,
- Increase in gratuity limit to ₹25 lakh,
- End of outsourcing of permanent jobs.
Prominent leaders, including Y.K. Arora, Ajay Pandey, Anil Gautam, S.K. Sangtani, Lachhman Singh, Man Mohan Das, V.K. Mathur, S.D. Mishra, Sandeep Singh, Rajeev Sengar, B.D. Pandey, Manish Kant, Shakeel Ahmad, R.N. Shukla, Lalit Srivastava, Ashutosh Verma, Shiv Kumar Singh, Abhishek Srivastava, M.Z. Hasan, Brijesh Tiwari, Nandu Tripathi, Abhishek Tiwari, Karunesh Shukla, Kirtivardhan, Ankur Aggarwal, Prabhakar Kushwaha, Tarkeshwar Chauhan, and Akash Sharma, addressed the demonstrators, asserting that if their demands were not met promptly by the Indian government and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), they were prepared for a prolonged struggle.
The protests witnessed participation from thousands of bank employees in front of the State Bank of India main branch, as well as at the Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank, Canara Bank, and Punjab National Bank headquarters in Gomti Nagar. Additionally, protests took place at Indian Bank in Hazratganj and Punjab & Sind Bank in Jankipuram.
According to media spokesperson Anil Tiwari, a massive rally will be organized on March 21, where bank employees will march from the State Bank head office to Indian Bank, Hazratganj, in preparation for the two-day nationwide strike.
