Estd SEPTEMBER, For a greener planet, please don't print this unless necessary. 15 crore workers of 10 unions go on strike

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1 Banking News Estd SEPTEMBER, 2015 NEWS BULLETIN from ALL INDIA BANK EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION For a greener planet, please don't print this unless necessary 15 crore workers of 10 unions go on strike PTI/ THE HINDU A passenger at NSCBI Airport in Kolkata on Wednesday. Taxis stayed off the road in several parts of the nation due to a nation-wide strike called by trade unions to protest government's "anti-labour" policies. Bandh supporters stage a road blockade on Kolar-Chickballapur Road in Karnataka.

2 BMTC buses parked in Banashankari bus depot. Bangalore Empty hall of the bank branch Majority of nationalised banks employees and more than half of private bank staff have joined the nation-wide strike against the proposed amendments to various labour legislations today. Live updates Puducherry: -Around 1,000 persons were arrested and taken into custody by police personnel. -Most of traders, shop keepers and commercial establishments downed the shutters in spite of the call given by the traders federation against the closure of shops. Several banks and schools and educational institutions in the city remained closed. West Bengal: -Clashes between supporters of Left parties and ruling Trinamool Congress activists marred the all-india general strike called by the trade unions here on Wednesday, which affected normal life in West Bengal.

3 -Train services, both on the Eastern Railway and the South Eastern Railway, were hit. -Violence erupted in several parts as supporters of Left parties, and Trinamool Congress clashed. Bengaluru: - Services at Majestic set to resume by 4 pm. Buses have started leaving for the airport from Majestic. - Around 15 Volvo buses and BMTC buses were damaged in stone pelting incidents in and around the city following which bus services have been completely withdrawn. - Incidents of stone pelting reported on Mysore Road. - Bus stands in Majestic satellite and Shanti Nagar wear a deserted look. - Patient inflow in hospitals very low. The resident doctors' strike has crippled health services in BMCRI-affiliated hospitals, reports Afshan Yasmeen. - Protestors have heated arguments with police in K.R. Puram. Protesters shout slogans, hurl abuses at moving vehicles and ask them to support the bandh. - No buses have left from Majestic bus depot. Services are expected to resume by 3 p.m. Chennai: - The crew of Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) will be supporting the strike, but government sources say regular services will not be affected. Trains will run as usual and schools will remain open. - C.H. Venkatachalam, general secretary of All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), says nearly 15,000 employees of various banks in the city joined the strike. Delhi: - A large number of autos and taxis remain off the roads. - Bandh remains largely peaceful, there are reports of auto-drivers groups vandalising auto-rickshaws plying on the streets despite call for strike. Many commuters also complain of the auto-rickshaws charging double then the usual fare from them.

4 Normal life partially affected in West Bengal - Train services of South Eastern railway were normal although Eastern railway officials said suburban services in the Sealdah south section were hit for sometime in the morning due to blockade at some places. - Shops, markets and business establishments in most areas remain closed. Strike cripples life in Kerala - The nation-wide 24-hour strike called by major Central trade unions, barring BMS, is total in Kerala. - All operations at the Cochin Port were also hit. Most of the IT firms in Technopark and Infopark reported very thin attendance. - All examinations that were to be held on Wednesday have been postponed by the various state universities. - The strike has hit the functioning of educational institutions, banks, government offices, industrial and commercial establishments, including software technology parks, and hit road traffic across the State. Stir cripples financial services in Prakasam - Employees from public sector banks and insurance companies abstained from work to press their 10-point charter of demands including ending disinvestment in public sector units. - The strike also affected civic services as municipal workers abstained from work. - The employees led by CITU district General Secretary Ch.Srinivasa Rao and AITUC distrct Secretary Sardar and All India Trade Union Congress(AITUC) district president K. Ramasamy hold a protest rally from the RTC bus stand to Prakasam Bhavan in protest against relaxation of labour laws that allegedly favour multinational companies.

5 Bank strike a ''massive success'': AIBEA New Delhi Wednesday, Sep The one-day Nation-wide strike called by various Bank Unions in protest against the 'anti-people economic policies', 'anti-worker labour reforms' and 'anti-public sector banking reforms', was a ''massive success'', All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) claimed here today. More than five lakh of bank employees and officers joined the strike across the country, AIBEA General Secretary Ch.Venkatachalam told UNI. He said banking operations remained paralysed in several states due to the strike. Payments and receipts of cash at the counter was affected and even clearing of cheques could not be conducted in many centres. Inter-branch cash remittances, remittances of cash to and from currency chest were also affected. In Metro Centres, treasury operations, bills negotiations and inter-bank transactions were also affected. Reports reaching us from states and major centres indicated that strike has been total. In addition to AIBEA, the strike call has been given jointly by AIBOA, BEFI, INEF and INBOC. Unions in LIC, RBI, NABARD, IDBI also joined the strike. All India Co-operative Bank Employees Federation and all the unions in Regional Rural Banks had also given the strike call. All India Bank Deposit Collectors Federation had given the call to its members to join the strike. The strike disrupted work in all the Banks in Public Sector, Old generation Private Banks, foreign Banks, RRBs, and Coop. Banks, Mr Venkatachalam said. The strike was also called in support of the 12-point charter of demands of the Central Trade Unions including more jobs for the unemployed youth, control of prices of essential commodities, guaranteed minimum wage of Rs. 15,000, removal of ceiling on Bonus and Gratuity, extending maternity leave benefits to all women workers, strengthening social security funds, against proposed adverse changes in labour laws, easy rules for retrenchment of workers, investment of PF in stock market, making PF and ESI as optional, curbing trade union rights and collective bargaining, contracting out and outsourcing permanent jobs, replacing regular jobs with Apprentices

6 Strike by 10 trade unions affect clearing business at banks NEW DELHI: By PTI 2 Sep, 2015, Normal working at banks was affected today due to a nationwide strike called by 10 central trade unions, although the staff of SBI, IOB, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank stayed away from the agitation. "23 public sector banks, 12 private sector banks, 52 regional rural banks and over 13,000 cooperative banks have gone on strike today to protest against government's pro-corporate policies," All India Bank Employees Association General Secretary C H Venkatachalam told PTI. He said that over half of the 10 lakh banking sector workers are supporting the strike call given by 10 central trade unions as their talks with the government on 12-points charter of demand failed last month. Venkatachalam further said that among public sector banks State Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank have not joined the strike whereas in private sector ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Yes Bank did not join the day-long strike. He said that Yes Bank did not join the strike because there is no trade union there. While clearing business was affected across the country, banks have fully stocked the ATM machines. Among the private sector banks which joined the stir include Federal Bank, Karnataka Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank and Ratnakar Bank. Venkatachalam said that banking sector has joined the stir to protest against central government's anti-labour and pro-corporate policies. The government had yesterday appealed to the trade unions to call off the agitation in the interest of workers and the nation. The unions however decided to go ahead with the strike as their talks with a ministerial panel headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last month did not make any headway on their 12-point charter of demands. Trade unions' 12-point charter of demands includes urgent measures to rein in price rise, contain unemployment, strictly enforce basic labour laws,

7 provide universal social security cover for all workers and minimum wage of Rs 15,000 per month. They are also demanding higher pensions, stoppage of disinvestment in PSUs, ending contractorisation, removal of ceiling on bonus and provident fund, compulsory registration of trade unions within 45 days, no amendment to labour laws unilaterally, stopping of FDI in Railways and Defence. Even as trade unions claimed partial success of their strike, country's largest lender State Bank did not participate in the stir. "We are not on strike. All our employees are working today," SBI deputy managing director and CDO Ashwini Mehra said. The Bank of Maharashtra said its services were partially hit, particularly the clearing house. "All transactions happening through alternate channels like mobile banking, Internet banking and ATM withdrawls are not affected. There will be some impact on treasury operations as the staff is less," Bank of Maharashtra executive director RK Gupta told PTI. However, bank union leaders claimed success of their strike. "We are opposing the government plan to privatise and consolidate public sector banks. We are also against the labour laws of this government which are against trade unions and deny them their rights," an office-bearer of the All-India Bank Employees Association said. As many as 14 major bank unions are on strike extending support to the 10 central trade unions' call for the one-day nationwide protest against government's anti-labour policies. A large section of the nearly 10 lakh employees (as SBI is keeping away) and officers from 24 public sector banks, 11 private sector banks, nine foreign banks, 56 regional rural banks, 650 co-operative banks, the employees of Reserve Bank, Nabard and Sidbi are skipping offices today, partially impacting normal operations. Bank unions are protesting against government's ping in private sector players into the banking sector and also its plan to revamp public sector banks which are against the interest of state-run banks and their employees.

8 Trade Union strike affects rail, road, bank services across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, violent clashes reported in West Bengal Posted on: 11:30 AM IST Sep 02, 2015 IBNLIVE.COM Normal life was affected in various parts of the country, including in West Bengal, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana as 10 central trade unions on Wednesday went on a day-long nationwide strike to protest against changes in labour laws and privatisation of PSUs. Trade union leaders claimed that around 15 crore formal sector workers are on strike in support of their 12-point charter of demands. The day long strike was seen affecting transport and banking operations among other services. bank employees torch-light demonstration in Bhopal Reports of sporadic violence emerged in Kolkata in West Bengal during the shutdown. Train services, both on the Eastern Railway and the South Eastern Railway, were hit as supporters blocked trains in several areas. Shops, markets and business establishments in most areas also remained closed. State administration was plying a large fleet of public buses while partial impact was seen on operations of private buses and taxis. In the national capital, commuters faced problems as a large number of autos and taxis remained off the roads. New Delhi station also bore a deserted look.

9 The strike, however, did not have much impact on most of the public sector banks in Punjab and Haryana as Class 3 and 4 employees have joined the strike. Though the state-run bus services have been affected in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. In Kerala, public and private bus services, taxis and autorickshaws were off the roads. Only few private cars and two wheelers were seen on the roads. Shops, hotels and even small tea stalls were closed in the state. The inter-state transport between Tamil Nadu and Kerala was also affected. In Tamil Nadu, several units in the hosiery town of Tiruppur downed their shutters due to the strike. Banking operations at nationalised banks - barring State Bank of India (SBI) and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)- were affected as major unions in the banking sector are participating in the strike. In Himachal, over 2,000 state roadways buses went off roads. However, the state government offices and educational institutions were functioning normally and there was no report of violence anywhere in the state. The impact of the shutdown was more in major towns like Shimla, Rampur, Theog, Solan, Mandi, Nahan, Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Dharamsala, Palampur, Kangra, Kullu and Manali as private bus operators also joined the protest. An official of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation said more than 250 inter-state routes were badly hit due to the strike. The government had on Tuesday appealed to trade unions call off the agitation in the interest of workers and nation. The unions, however, decided to go ahead with strike as their talks with a ministerial panel headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in August failed to make any headway on their 12-point charter of demands. Trade unions' 12-point charter of demands includes urgent measures to contain price rise, contain unemployment, strict enforcement of basic labour laws, universal social security cover for all workers and minimum wage of Rs 15,000 per month. They are also demanding enhanced pension for workers, stoppage of disinvestment in PSUs, stoppage of contractorisation, removal of ceiling on bonus and provident fund, compulsory registration of trade unions within 45 days, no amendment to labour laws unilaterally, stopping of FDI in Railways, Defence, etc.

10 Trade Union sponsored Bharat Bandh: Normal life affected; Banking services hit; skirmishes between agitators and police New Delhi/Kolkata/Guwahati Wednesday, Sep Normal life in various parts of the country was adversely affected today as an estimated 150 million workers went on a one-day nation-wide strike to press their charter of demands, including wage revision and better service conditions. The agitating leaders had rejected the government appeal to them against the strike. Life was affected in West Bengal following the strike. Although the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government has beefed up security measures and deployed 25,000 security personnel, people by and large remained indoors to avoid any confrontation posed by picketers. The industrial belt of Howrah, Hoogly and Burdwan districts wore a deserted look with vacant roads and national highway. Though government buses were plying, there were only a few passengers. The drivers of the state-run buses wore helmets for self-defence. Train services at Howrah and Sealdah stations were hit as reports of blockade of tracks at many suburban stations by the pro-bandh supporters came in. Aviation services at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International airport so far was normal but the services may get affected as the day progresses, aviation sources said. Banking services were also affected to a large extent due to low attendance of employees. Most of the educational institutions remained closed as the authorities did not want to risk the life of their students. They had also unofficially asked the students to stay indoor. Stray incidents of clashes between the picketers and anti-bandh activists from across the WB state came to light. This was the second bandh in West Bengal called within a fortnight. The one-day nationwide strike called by various Bank Unions in protest against the 'anti-people economic policies', 'anti-worker labour reforms' and 'anti-public sector banking reforms', was a ''massive success'', All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) asserted today.

11 More than five lakh of bank employees and officers joined the strike across the country, AIBEA General Secretary Ch. Venkatachalam told UNI. He said banking operations remained paralysed in several states due to the strike. Payments and receipts of cash at the counter was affected and even clearing of cheques could not be conducted in many centres. Inter-branch cash remittances, remittances of cash to and from currency chest were also affected. In Metro Centres, treasury operations, bills negotiations and inter-bank transactions were also affected. Reports reaching us from states and major centres indicated that strike has been total. In addition to AIBEA, the strike call has been given jointly by AIBOA, BEFI, INEF and INBOC. Unions in LIC, RBI, NABARD, IDBI also joined the strike. All India Co-operative Bank Employees Federation and all the unions in Regional Rural Banks had also given the strike call. All India Bank Deposit Collectors Federation had given the call to its members to join the strike. The strike disrupted work in all the Banks in Public Sector, Old generation Private Banks, foreign Banks, RRBs, and Coop. Banks, Mr Venkatachalam said. The strike was also called in support of the 12-point charter of demands of the Central Trade Unions including more jobs for the unemployed youth, control of prices of essential commodities, guaranteed minimum wage of Rs. 15,000, removal of ceiling on Bonus and Gratuity, extending maternity leave benefits to all women workers, strengthening social security funds, against proposed adverse changes in labour laws, easy rules for retrenchment of workers, investment of PF in stock market, making PF and ESI as optional, curbing trade union rights and collective bargaining, contracting out and outsourcing permanent jobs, replacing regular jobs with Apprentices. In West Bengal, picketers obstructed movements of train partially in Sealdah South section of Eastern Railway. Bandh supporters squatted on the tracks and halted trains for five to 15 minutes on an average at various stations. However, train services at Sealdah North and Main sections remained normal. RPF and GRP personnel with the help of local police and civil authorities are making all out efforts for uninterrupted train services in spite of the blockade by the picketers. ALL INDIA BANK EMPLOYEES' ASSOCIATION Central Office: PRABHAT NIVAS Singapore Plaza, 164, Linghi Chetty Street, Chennai Phone: , & Fax: , e mail ~ chv.aibea@gmail.com