TNI Bureau: The employees of all banks began a two-day nationwide strike on Wednesday protesting against the proposed reforms in the banking sector and outsourcing of jobs.

Around 10 lakh employees of state-run and some private and foreign banks including the country’s biggest lender, State Bank of India, have joined the strike today.

Even the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of all public and private sector banks will remain closed as security guards of the ATMs belong to the unions participating in the strike.

The strike affected the trade and business across the country

The banks are protesting against the proposed reforms that would allow more private capital including foreign investment in the banking sector.

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) – an umbrella organization of five employee unions and four officer unions of state-run banks in the country – decided to go ahead with the two-day strike as talks with the chief labour commission failed in the morning.

The strike will cause a lot of hassle to the common people, but the union decided to go ahead with the strike, said Gautam Bose, general secretary of the UFBU, West Bengal unit.