Public sector bank employees in the state will join hands with their nationwide colleagues for a strike over the next two days in protest against the Centre’s decision to carry out reforms and privatise the nationalised financial institutions.

The banks would be closed following a strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), a platform of nine bank unions, to protest recommendations of the Khandelwal committee and the banking law amendment bill. The panel has recommended variable pay at various banks based on the employees’ performance, besides putting a cap on recruitment in urban branches and later abolishing the posts of sub-staff (peon and the likes) in the next five years.

“There will be a strike on August 22 and 23, as our (unions’) talks with the chief labour commissioner in Delhi have failed. Our demands are genuine and are in the welfare of the employees and the banking sector,” said B. Prasad, the general secretary of the Bank Employees Federation of India, one of the nine unions constituting the UFBU. Prasad, who is also the joint convener of the UFBU, said the bank employees would take out a protest march from the RBI office at Gandhi Maidan to Dakbungalow roundabout in support of their various demands.

“ATMs will function round-the-clock because our intention is not to put consumers into any kind of difficulty,” said an officer working with a public sector bank.

The bank customers, however, might face problems by Wednesday evening, as the ATMs by then would go dry because there would be no cash refilling till the strike ends.

The UFBU has been opposing privatisation of the PSU banks by reducing government’s equity in the financial institutions, outsourcing of jobs and the Khandelwal committee recommendations.

UFBU-Bihar convener P.D. Singh said the regional rural banks and co-operative banks have been exempted from the two-day strike.