Over a million bank employees and officers are likely to go on a two-day all-India strike from July 25.
The strike call has been given by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), a representative body of nine bank unions.
The strike call is to oppose the Government attempts to enact the Banking Laws (amendment) Bill; close down rural branches; outsourcing of regular banking jobs and unilaterally implement the Khandelwal committee report, Mr C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary of the All-India Bank Employees Association, said.
The Government had, at the fag end of the recentlyconcluded budget session of Parliament, tried to enact the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill. But the same could not be taken up for want of time.
The Government is now looking to further amend the Bill to raise the ceiling on voting rights of shareholders in the private sector banks to 26 per cent from the present 10 per cent.
All other amendments proposed in the original Bill such as exemption of bank mergers from the ambit of Competition Commission, increasing the ceiling on voting rights in public sector banks from 1 per cent to 10 per cent, supersession of Bank Boards have been retained in the revised Bill.