The employee unions of various public sector banks have gone on a two-day strike till August 7, adversely affecting banking activities. The strike will affect traders and suppliers who will now able to get funds on Monday, as there is generally no cheque clearing on weekends.

The bank union, led by United Forum of Banks' Union (UFBU), will shun work on Thursday and Friday to register their protest for marginal 13 per cent increase in their wages by IBA led management.

A meeting also took place between UFBU, representing trade unions of six banks, and IBA on Wednesday evening, that failed to yield any result as IBA declined to roll back its decision to revise wage hike from 15 per cent to 13 per cent.

R Vijayakumar, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Bank Employees Federation said that the employees of nearly 5,300 bank branches in the state will go on strike. He further added: "The employees of all the public sector banks will be on strike. Some of private and foreign bank branches will also join the two-day strike."

A senior bank official, however, said that the strike will hardly affect customers due to easy access of ATMs in urban and semi-urban areas.