New Delhi: We are in the first week of September, and bracing for a series of bank strikes in the coming weeks.
The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has announced the strikes, beginning with one on September 11 over unresolved key demands such as five-day banking week and the government’s revised Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
UFBU said in a statement that the September 11 ceasework will be followed by a three-day strike from September 28 to September 30. If the grievances are still not addressed, the Unions threatened to go on an indefinite strike from October 26.
The UFBU — comprising AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE, AIBOA, BEFI, INBOC and INBEF — claims to represent 90 per cent of workforce across public sector, private, foreign, regional, rural and cooperative banks.
UFBU had called for a strike in March 2025 over similar demands, but it was deferred after the Chief Labour Commissioner asked the Indian Banks’ Association and Unions to negotiate PLI scheme modifications.
The Unions said rather than negotiating on the proposal, the government in March this year directed banks to implement the formula. The Unions then approached the Delhi High Court, where the matter is pending, UFBU said.
The latest escalation came after the Department of Financial Services, under the Union Ministry of Finance, again directed banks on August 21 to proceed with the PLI scheme.
According to the unions, this violates the status quo requirement under the Industrial Disputes Act while the dispute remains before the Chief Labour Commissioner.
The key demands, listed in the official statement, are — implementation of the five-day banking week pending for several years, modification of the PLI scheme through bilateral discussions as the Unions said it is not acceptable in current format, resolution of pending residual issues.
The Unions stated that banks agreed in principle to move towards a five-day week in 2015, when the second and fourth Saturdays were declared holidays.
The issue was revisited five years later, and subsequently formalised through the wage settlement signed on March 8, 2024. Under the arrangement, bank employees agreed to work an additional 40 minutes every day from Monday to Friday in return for all Saturdays being declared holidays, ensuring that existing customer service hours remain intact.
The UFBU said it is still awaiting response from Finance Ministry to their more than two-year-old agreement for five-day a week work schedule. They argued that five-day working week schedule is already followed by the Reserve Bank of India, LIC, GIC and NABARD, along with other government and private institutions.
