Mumbai: The All-India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) has called for a one-day bank strike on 1 October 2002 in protest against the sudden closure of the Kolkata branch of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and the dismissal of 67 employees without any notice last month.

The strike will be observed in the main four metros. AIBEA represents nearly half of over 9 lakh employees in the banking sector.

Says AIBEA: "The bank took the unprecedented step of closure of their Kolkata branch on 6 August 2002 in violation of binding provisions of the Shastry Award, which governs the service conditions of the bank employees since 1953."

With the Tuesday strike, banks will be closed to the public for four consecutive days 29 September (Sunday), 30 September (half-yearly closing of bank accounts), 1 October (strike) and 2 October (Gandhi Jayanti).