Union Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has called for an All-India strike as the public-sector employees are not happy with the government`s new privatization consolidation.

While the public banks have gone on strike, private banks are still in function (HDFC, HSBC, Axis, ICICI, etc), Online Transactions will not be disturbed and customer support will be present at all times.

All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) too have stepped in for the favour of employees.

There are some basic points one needs to understand about the strike.

1. Cheque clearances, NEFT/RTGS transactions as well as deposits/withdrawals at branches of public sector banks will be affected. However, online banking transactions will not be impacted, a banking executive said.

2. Operations at private sector lenders such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are expected to be normal except delay in cheque clearances.

3. Besides opposing the government's consolidation move, other demands of unions include a no write-off policy for non-performing assets (NPAs) of corporate loans and declaration of wilful default of loans as a criminal offence.

4. A top union leader said the government should provide overtime for additional work during demonetisation. He also suggested that banks should not pass on the burden of corporate NPAs to bank customers by hiking charges.

5. However, the critical operations of public sector banks like data centres will remain open to facilitate online transactions, the banking executive added.

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