Bank employees across Chennai staged a protest on Wednesday, July 9, as part of a nationwide strike called by ten central trade unions, excluding the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The demonstration was led by unions including the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Life Insurance Employees Association (AILIEA), General Insurance Employees All India Association (GIEAI), All India Life Insurance Corporation Employees Federation (AILICEF), All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), and the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFOI). In Chennai, the protest took place in front of the LIC building on Anna Salai.
The all-India bandh raised 17 key demands including strengthening public sector banks and insurance companies, halting privatisation and disinvestment, and ensuring adequate recruitments and ending the contractualisation of jobs. Employees from both public and private banks — including Bank of Baraoda, Punjab National Bank, Indian Bank, Karnataka Bank, and Karur Vysya Bank — participated.
A central issue was the opposition to the four new labour codes: the Code on Wages, 2019;
the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code.
“Employees will be losing money for this. Striking is not fashionable, but rather the last resort of the employee,” All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA) president V Ramesh said at the protest. He added that the government wanted to take away even the right to strike in the name of ease of business.
Labour laws make striking harder
The Industrial Relations Code (IRC), passed in April 2021, has made strikes significantly harder by imposing a long and complex procedure.
Workers must first issue a strike notice at least 14 days in advance, and only if they belong to a registered trade union. This is followed by a mandatory conciliation process with the employer. If that fails, the employer can request the formation of an industrial tribunal. Though the law sets a 14-day conciliation period, there are no penalties for employers who delay it. If the process drags past 60 days, workers must issue a fresh strike notice.
Employees are also not permitted to strike during the notice period, conciliation, adjudication, and for two months after the adjudication is complete. Section 69 of the Act also denies layoff compensation to workers if the layoff is due to a strike or slowdown in another part of the establishment.
Protest against contractualisation
Ramesh also criticised the increasing contractualisation of labour. “Capital is being given a free hand to do whatever it wants,” he said. “Corporates want a hire-and-fire method. They will employ when they need workers, and fire when they don't.”
The IRC introduces the concept of fixed-term employment, which essentially formalises contractual work for fixed spans of time instead of offering permanent jobs. This also means that statutory benefits available to permanent employees are not extended to those on fixed-term contracts.
Longer work hours, lower pay
The protest also raised concerns over the Telangana government’s move to introduce 10-hour work days, up from the standard eight hours, and how other states such as Karnataka are also planning similar moves. The protesters also flagged the Tamil Nadu government’s handling of the Samsung workers’ strike in Sriperumbathur, including the arrests of protesting workers.
Referencing a controversial remark by Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, who said young Indians should work 70 hours a week to boost national productivity, Ramesh questioned the cost of such a push. “What is the wage given to the employees? Production has increased, profits have increased, and wages have come down,” he sai
A key demand raised at the protest was a minimum monthly wage of at least Rs 26,000. “Contract workers now earn as little as Rs 15,000, or less,” said Rahul. “With the current rate of inflation, it’s not possible to survive on that.”
Speaking on the broader political climate, Rahul added, “The attack on labour rights goes on, irrespective of which party is in power. Every party is against labour rights.”
Pushback against insurance amendments
Ramesh Kumar, general secretary of the AIIEA, raised alarm over the proposed amendments to the Insurance Act, 1938; LIC Act, 1956; and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Act, 1999. The amendments aim to reduce the capital required to start an insurance company and lower the solvency margin.
“This is retrograde,” he told TNM. “It will allow even more private companies into banking and insurance, taking us back to the pre-nationalisation era where private companies engaged in rampant malpractice.”
The workers also ask for the scrapping of the New Pension Scheme, 2010, and a return to the 1995 pension framework. They opposed the Union government’s 2025 Budget decision to raise the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap in insurance from 74% to 100%. The FDI is the amount of stake that a foreign entity is allowed to hold in an Indian company.
Ramesh Kumar added that the solvency margin — previously set at 150% of the difference between assets and liabilities — was a key safeguard. “If a company fails, this money ensures people are compensated. Reducing the margin strips away those protections.”
The protest also put forward a demand of a minimum wage of at least 26,000. “Contract workers now work for as little as 15000, or less, with the current state of inflation it is not possible to survive in this situation.” said Rahul, a protestor. Talking about the proposed increase in workdays in many states he said “The attack on labour rights goes on irrespective of the party. Every party is against labour rights.”