Employees of government-run banks who went the extra mile to meet consumers’ demands when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation on November 8last year have threatened to go on strike if their long-pending overtime dues are not settled.
At least 4 lakh bank employees had put in several extra hours, with many working 12 to 18 hours a day for at least 50 days, after high denomination notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 were scraped on November 8. Bank trade unions have decided to move to the court, said a report in the Hindustan Times.
From the day demonetization was announced, they were the interface between the government and the people. They faced customers angry over paltry cash withdrawal limit, fluctuating rules, extreme crunch of new notes. They Bankers had to put in longer hours, skipped meals and weekend breaks. At least 11 banking officials had died within the first 12 days of demonetization allegedly due to workload stress.
The bank employees were supposed to get between Rs 100 and Rs 300 based on their pay package for every additional hour of work.
In his address to the nation, Prime Minister had said "during this period, bank employees have worked day and night. Female employees too worked till late hours as part of this mission".
