Tamil Nadu: A bank employees’ union in Salem went on strike on Tuesday, demanding the implementation of a five-day work week.
In Salem district, more than 3,000 officers and employees from 350 branches of all nationalized and rural banks participated in the strike. As a result, most government banks remained empty without staff. This caused inconvenience to customers who had come to the banks for various transactions.
Following this, a protest was held at the Fort State Bank premises, led by coordinator Samynathan of the Bank Employees Federation. Executives Sampath, Rajendran, Sriram, Vajravel, and Deenadayalan were also present. Slogans were raised emphasizing the demand for a five-day work week.
Coordinator Samynathan said, “According to the agreement reached in 2015, it was agreed that the second and fourth Saturdays would be declared holidays in banks. Similarly, they said they were considering declaring other Saturdays as holidays as well. But our demands have not been met so far. Therefore, we have gone on strike again.”
He added, “The strike will continue until our demands are met. More than 3,000 bank employees are on strike in Salem district. As a result, transactions worth Rs 15,000 crore have been stalled in banks across the district. Therefore, the Bengal Management Association and the central government should immediately fulfill our demands.”
