Opposing merger with SBI, unions in associate banks to strike work

Chennai, May 17  Opposing the decision of boards of directors of five associate banks of State Bank of India (SBI) to close down and merge with SBI, the All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) has called a strike on May 20.

In a statement here on Tuesday, AIBEA said it has called an all-India strike in the five SBI associate banks -- State Bank of Travancore (SBT), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), and State Bank of Patiala (SBP) -- on May 20.

According to AIBEA, at the board meetings of the five SBI associate banks held in Mumbai on Tuesday, an agenda was brought to close down the associate banks and for acquisition by SBI.

"Despite opposition and protest by all the AIBEA's Workman Directors and a few other independent directors about the proposal and the procedure adopted, the resolution has been approved in this regard," the statement said.

"It is shameful that when the government is talking of corporate governance and good governance, board agenda is brought without intimation on such a serious matter and decision is taken," AIBEA added.

According to the statement, the decision of the five banks is not in consonance with what Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had suggested to the union at their meeting on March 23 and April 25 this year.

"He opined that all the five banks can be made into one single entity. But what SBI and the Associate Banks are trying to do is the opposite to what the FM (finance minister) had suggested," AIBEA said.