Reportedly banking operations were largely affected in the country on friday owing to the strike by bankers pressing for early settlement of wage revision, said a top leader of All india bank Employees' Association (AIBEA). C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA said "In the clearing grids in mumbai, chennai and delhi, about 31 lakh cheques worth about Rs 23,000 crore could not be cleared due to the strike. Most of the bank branches remained closed. Cash could not be deposited or withdrawn".
Further the United Forum of bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine unions in the banking sector had given the strike call for Jan 31 and Feb 1. Venkatachalam said "As per reports reaching us from all over the country, mainly from major states like tamilnadu, maharashtra, andhra pradesh and telangana, West bengal, up, mp, delhi, punjab, gujarat, karnataka, kerala, bihar, etc. banking transactions have been greatly affected".
Moreover the bankers have called strike on the day when the Economic survey will be presented and Finance minister Nirmala Seetharaman would be presenting her second budget on february 1. Reportedly In the conciliation meeting held by Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) in delhi on Jan 27, 2020, attempts were made to reconcile but the discussions did not result in any conclusion, hence the CLC advised the IBA to hold direct bilateral talks with the Unions before the strike and try for a solution". According to him, the last minute discussions held between managements and bank unions at mumbai on Jan 30 did not clinch the issues and hence the Unions decided to go ahead with the two days strike on Jan 31 and Feb 1.
