MUMBAI, Aug 20: The All India Reserve Bank Employees Association (AIRBEA) has extended its support to the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) for their planned strike on August 28 and 29. The forum represents represents nine bank unions.

AIRBEA will participate in the strike on August 28 and will resort to demonstrations across the country on August 29.

UFBU had earlier gone on a countrywide strike on July 4, which had a marginal impact on the money and forex markets. The demands of the striking bank employees include the implementation of pension settlement in private banks and deletion of the clause relating to forfeiture of pension of bank employees in the event of participation in a strike.

The forum had also demanded the implementation of pension benefits in regional rural banks. Other demands call for scrapping of local area private banks, wage revision in regional rural banks and a ban on non-banking finance companies against accepting deposits from the public. Following the July 4 strike, the nine bank unions had met in Calcutta on July 6 to chart out their course of action, after which, the union representatives had unanimously decided to strike work on August 28 and 29.

All the major bank unions in the country - All India Bank Employees' Association, All India Bank Officers' Confederation, Bank Employees Federation of India and the National Confederation of Bank Employees - make up UFBU.

The forum had earlier called off a nationwide strike scheduled for April 4 because of uncertainty over the government's stability.

"Even after a long wait, nothing has been done by the government to resolve the issues," the forum had said. Over a million bank officers and employees are expected to participate in the strike. The value of cheques that will be held up for clearing due to the two-day strike has been estimated to be in the region of Rs 35,000-Rs 40,000 crore, the Indian Banks Association says. That apart, banks also face huge foreign exchange losses. This has been one of the rare occasions when unions, cutting across all political lines, have joined hands to fight for their demands.

The impact of the strike in Mumbai is however expected to be minimal with the Bank Karmachari Sena Sangh -- backed by the Shiv Sena -- deciding to oppose the strike call.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.