Wearing black ribbons and black clothes, public sector bank employees in Lucknow on Sunday observed ‘black day’ to protest against Centre’s attitude towards them ahead of three-day nationwide bank strike from Monday to press for a five-day working week and other pending demands.
The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), which represents about 90% of banking workforce in the country, has called a three-day strike from September 28 to 30.
The strike will hit most public sector banks, old-generation private banks and regional rural banks. Private new-gen banks like HDFC, ICICI, Axis are expected to function but cheque clearing and inter-bank services may be delayed.
According to UFBU circular dated September 26, conciliation meeting held in Delhi on September 22 with the deputy chief labour commissioner failed.
Informal talks with Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the department of financial services also did not yield result. So, the strike call remains unchanged. If demands not met, unions have threatened an indefinite strike from October 26.
Main demands are implementation of five-day banking week—Monday to Friday with all Saturdays off—scrapping of new performance-linked incentive system and pension-related reforms.
{{/usCountry}}Main demands are implementation of five-day banking week—Monday to Friday with all Saturdays off—scrapping of new performance-linked incentive system and pension-related reforms.
{{/usCountry}}At present banks are closed only on 2nd and 4th Saturdays. The five-day week was agreed in wage settlement of March 2024 but is pending government approval.
In Lucknow, confusion prevailed over Sunday opening. District UFBU convenor Anil Srivastava said the IBA, with RBI approval, had declared Sunday (September 27) as a working day to handle month-end load and half-yearly closing on September 30. UFBU objected saying as per bilateral settlement, Sunday cannot be declared a working day.
“RBI can open banks on Sunday only in emergency circumstances. Then staff called through office order must be paid 200% overtime and officers given compensatory off or discomfort allowance,” Srivastava said.
After forum’s protest, management withdrew its order and decided to open banks strictly as per bilateral provisions, with overtime/discomfort allowance to those called.