Unions call nationwide strike a success; no disruption, say bankers

Demanded five-day work week including all Saturdays

The nationwide bank strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) on Tuesday (January 27) witnessed near-total participation, with around eight lakh bank employees and officers staying away from work across the country, according to a UFBU press statement. However, bankers claimed that the strike failed to cause much inconvenience to customers as alternative delivery channels were working.

 

The UFBU, an umbrella body of nine unions representing bank employees and officers, said the strike was observed in public sector banks (PSBs), private banks, foreign banks, regional rural banks (RRBs), and cooperative banks. The forum termed the strike a “total success”, claiming normal banking operations were severely affected nationwide.

 

Countering this claim, a senior official of a PSB said: "There has been no disruption to banking operations due to Tuesday’s strike, and no complaints have been reported so far. Customer transactions through digital channels and ATMs proceeded normally, cheque-clearing was unaffected, and cash availability remained comfortable. The situation continues to be stable and is under close monitoring."

 

Another senior official from a large PSB said: "Alternative delivery channels kept working. ATMs were filled with cash and internet banking was also working. So was inward clearing.” The department of financial services (DFS) has been closely monitoring the situation, he added.

 

The strike was called to press for the long-pending demand of a five-day work week in the banking industry, including declaring all Saturdays as bank holidays. At present, only the second and fourth Saturdays of every month are bank holidays.

 

“The strike was forced on us as the government has failed to grant approval for implementation of the five-day banking week despite repeated assurances and formal agreements,” the UFBU said.

 

The unions pointed out that the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) had recommended the five-day work week based on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with UFBU on December 7, 2023, and the subsequent settlement and joint note dated March 8, 2024. Under the agreement, daily working hours from Monday to Friday were to be increased by 40 minutes to compensate for Saturdays being declared holidays.

 

According to the UFBU, the demand for a five-day work week has been pending since 2015, when the IBA and the government agreed to declare the second and fourth Saturdays as holidays, with an assurance that the remaining Saturdays would be reviewed later. However, the matter has remained unresolved despite further discussions in 2022 and a formal recommendation made in 2023.

 

The forum also noted that similar work-week patterns are already in place in institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, and General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re), besides central and state government offices. Stock exchanges and money markets also function only from Monday to Friday.

 

Conciliation meetings were held by the chief labour commissioner on January 22 and 23 in New Delhi, with officials from the finance ministry participating. However, the UFBU said the meetings did not yield any positive outcome, prompting the unions to go ahead with the strike.

 

“Bank employees and officers are deeply aggrieved that they alone are being discriminated against,” the statement said, adding that alternative banking channels now available would minimise inconvenience to customers.

 

The unions appealed to the public to bear with the inconvenience caused and reiterated their demand for immediate government approval to implement five-day banking. 

Rest in unrest

 

• Union said the strike was observed in public, private, regional rural, and cooperative banks
• According to a senior official, digital channels, ATMs, and internet banking were operating smoothly
• The strike comes in the wake of repeated assurance by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA)
• An MoU was signed in 2023, recommending five working days a week with extra 40 minutes