Mumbai: The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella of nine unions, have called a nationwide strike on October 27 to oppose outsourcing, privatisation and the proposed increase in voting rights of foreign investors in private banks. The strike was announced after the conciliation meeting by the chief labour commissioner with the unions and Indian Banks Association (IBA) ended in failure.

The strike is likely to affect public sector banks like the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank severely.

UFBU has All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), Indian National Bank Employees Congress (INBEC), Indian National Bank Officers Congress (INBOC), National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) and National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO) as member unions.

The UFBU blamed the casual approach of the government and IBA for failure of the meeting, in which UFBU had also demanded fresh recruitments, restoration of compassionate appointments and one more option to join pension scheme.

"If the government and the IBA continue to adopt their ostrich-like policy and not come forward to resolve the issues by meaningful discussions, the agitation will be further intensified into more strike actions in the banks," UFBU general secretary C H Venkatachalam said.