Report by KEC correspondent
Several hundred bank employees gathered in the Bank of India Zonal Office in Shivaji Nagar Pune to launch the two days Bank Strike on 16th and 17th December 2021 against the proposed privatization of public sector banks. More than 10 Lakhs employees and officers of the public sector banks are opposing this proposal of the government and similar meetings have been organized in different parts of the country.
The bank employees and officers from different banks in and around Pune from branches as far as Uruli Kanchan came to Shivaji Nagar to join the protest.
All those present raised slogans together, not only against the privatization of banks but also in support of the unity of the working class against increasing attacks on them by the government. Times are calling for a united struggle against privatization drive of the central government which is not only anti-worker but also an anti-people and anti-social act. Public property and assets worth lakhs of crores are, deliberately and as per a well-planned agenda, being handed over to monopoly capitalists for a pittance, by the government which will make life hell for millions of Indians.
A support letter from AIFAP addressed to all the members of the United Forum of Bank Unions and expressing the solidarity of all the workers in other sector with the struggle of the bank workers against the Indian State, was distributed among those present.
Another booklet brought out by AIFAP, entitled “Why Monetization, Corporatization and Privatization are Harmful for you”, which explains why the privatization drive of the Indian State is anti-people and how privatization of different sectors like Banks, Insurance, Railways, Electricity, Defense Production, Telecom, Steel, Coal and Petroleum, will impact the life and the livelihood of all the hard-working people of India including the workers in these sectors, was also distributed during the meeting, along with an invitation to all to participate in the next Zoom meeting, organized by AIFAP on “Unite against Privatization – Current Ongoing National Struggles to Oppose the Privatization of Banks, Insurance and Coal Mines” on Sunday, 19th December starting at 6 PM.
