Bank employees’ unions announced a nationwide strike on January 27 to demand a long-standing five-day work week.
If the strike goes ahead, it is expected to disrupt public sector banking operations for three consecutive days, as January 25 and 26 are already holidays.
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Why go on strike?
The demand is based on the agreement reached An agreement has been reached between the Indian Banks Association (IBA) and the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) to settle wage revisions in March 2024, news agency PTI reported.
Under the settlement, both sides agreed to declare all Saturdays as holidays. However, this decision has not yet been implemented.
Most public sector banks said they have warned customers about the possibility of service disruption if a strike materializes.
After UFBU served the strike notice, the Chief Labor Commissioner held a mediation meeting on Wednesday and Thursday to try to resolve the issue. Despite these discussions, the union said no positive outcome had been achieved. As of Saturday evening, the UFBU said it still plans to continue the strike.
“Despite detailed consultations, ultimately no positive outcome emerged from the mediation process,” the UFBU said.
Which banks will be affected?
Banks that may be affected by the strike include State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and other government-run banks.
Currently, bank employees are closed on the second and fourth Saturday of every month, excluding Sundays. This means that most weeks of the year will continue to be a six-day work week. UFBU argues that the transition to a five-day work week will not result in a loss of man-hours because employees have already agreed to work an additional 40 minutes each day from Monday to Friday.
“It is unfortunate that the government is not responding to our real demands,” the UFBU said earlier this month.
The union also points out that several other institutions, including the Reserve Bank of India, LIC, stock exchanges and government agencies, have already introduced a five-day working week. Banks argue there is no justification for continuing with the six-day schedule.
UFBU is the umbrella organization of India’s nine major banking unions and represents employees of public sector banks and some older generation private banks.
The strike is not expected to affect the functioning of branches of major private sector banks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.