Employees of IDBI Bank will hold a nationwide 2-day hunger strike on November 2 and 3 to oppose the proposed sale of the bank to Canada-based Fairfax Financial Holdings Group. The United Forum of IDBI Officers and Employees (UFIOE), which comprises the All India IDBI Officers’ Association and the All India Industrial Development Bank Employees’ Association, has issued a strike notice to the bank’s management under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020. The protest will take place across the bank’s branches and offices nationwide.
The forum has urged the government to halt the proposed sale and acquire at least 6% additional equity in IDBI Bank, either from Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) or through the market. It wants the government to maintain a minimum 51% shareholding in the bank, citing assurances made in Parliament in December 2003 that majority ownership would be retained.
The proposed transaction involves reducing the government’s and LIC’s shareholdings and transferring management control to the Fairfax group.
The employees’ forum has also demanded written statutory assurances that existing service conditions, employee welfare measures, pension benefits and reservation policies will remain protected. It has called for the continuation of industry-level wage revisions and pension benefits.
If the sale proceeds, the forum wants existing employees and officers to have the option of transferring to public sector banks without losing their service records, pay scales, seniority, salaries or superannuation benefits. It has also demanded the absorption of outsourced and contractual workers employed by IDBI Bank.
The forum has opposed the proposed transaction, arguing that it could undermine the bank’s public sector character despite its financial turnaround.
It has also raised concerns about the potential impact of privatisation on depositors, farmers, small borrowers and employees. According to the forum, IDBI Bank has played a role in supporting industrial development and implementing government welfare initiatives, including financial inclusion and social security schemes.
The union has appealed to bank employees, trade unions, customers, depositors and civil society organisations to support the protest.
While the forum has expressed its willingness to engage in dialogue with the government and the bank’s management, it has warned that the agitation could intensify if its demands remain unresolved. Further action could include a longer or indefinite strike.
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