Members of the All India Nationalised Banks Officers’ Federation staged a demonstration at the Canara Bank circle office in the city on Monday as part of the nationwide two-day strike opposing the Union government’s budget proposal to privatise two public sector banks.
Perils of privatisation
About 250 members participated in the demonstration. G.V. Manimaran, the federation’s general secretary, urged the participants to create awareness on the perils of privatisation among customers.
Pointing out the benefits of nationalisation, he said deposits of the banks had grown manifold in the past five decades. Public sector banks still command more than 70% of the market share in the banking system.
Some demands of the federation include medical insurance to retired employees on a par with serving employees, allocation of staff welfare fund based on profits and additional increment to probationary officers as being paid by the State Bank of India.
Besides updating pension for retired employees as per the Reserve Bank of India formula, it also wanted reimbursement of hospitalisation expenses to officers of all banks in line with the SBI.
