Bank employee unions have given notice for a nationwide strike on 27 January to press for a long-pending demand for a five-day work week.
If the strike proceeds, it will disrupt public sector banking operations for three consecutive days as banks will remain closed on Sunday, 25 January in line with Reserve Bank of India (RBI's) holiday schedule – which would be followed by another closure on Monday, 26 January– Republic Day, which is a national holiday.
Currently, bank employees get the second and fourth Saturdays off each month, apart from Sundays. First and third Saturdays of every month are working days for the employees, except for RBI's holiday schedule.
Most of the public sector banks have already informed their customers about the disruption in banking services if the strike materialises, mentioned a report by news wire PTI.
‘…no positive outcome’
In response to a strike notice served by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), the Chief Labour Commissioner held a conciliation meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, the UFBU – an umbrella organisation of nine unions of officers and employees, said in a statement.
"Besides representatives of IBA and various Banks, representatives of DFS, the Ministry of Finance, were present. From UFBU, all our 9 unions were present. Despite detailed discussions, finally there was no positive outcome out of the conciliation proceedings," it said.
Hence it has been decided to go ahead with the strike on January 27, it added.
The decision to declare all Saturdays as holidays was agreed between the Indian Banks' Association and UFBU during the wage revision settlement in March 2024.
"It is unfortunate that the government is not responding to our genuine demand. There would be no loss of man-hours as we have agreed to work an extra 40 minutes daily from Monday to Friday," UFBU had said earlier this month.
The UFBU noted that RBI, LIC, GIC, stock exchanges and government offices already follow a five-day work week, arguing there was no justification for banks to lag behind.
UFBU is an umbrella organisation of nine major bank unions in India, representing employees and officers across public sector banks and some old generation private banks.
Will the strike impact private sector banks?
UFBU strike may not impact functioning at branches of big private sector banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, reported PTI.
