UFBU calls for all-India bank strike on January 27 demanding five-day work week

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), which consists of nine unions of bank employees and officers, has called for an all India bank strike on January 27 demanding government approval for implementation of a five-day work week in banks.

If the strike by the influential forum of the bank unions happens as planned, for customers there will be no branch-level services for four days consecutively. Banks will be closed on January 24 (fourth Saturday), January 25 (Sunday) and January 26 (Republic Day). Most of the strike calls in recent years, however, have not generated the impact seen during strikes in the past primarily on account of availability of alternative delivery channels such as online banking and ATMs.

“From the United Forum of Bank Unions, we have been demanding the introduction of 5 working days per week in the banking sector. In the 10th Bipartite Settlement… it was agreed by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the government and accordingly the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of every month are declared as holidays while the other Saturdays are full working days instead of half a day working,” UFBU said.

At that time, it was assured that the demand for declaring all the remaining Saturdays as holiday would be considered in due course. But the issue was kept pending, the Forum said in a release, calling for government approval for implementation of five-day work week in Banking Industry. The IBA has already recommended this based on the MoUs it signed with UFBU in December 2023 and as agreed in the settlement/joint Note in March 2024.

All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA); All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC); the National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE); All India Bank Officers association (AIBOA); the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI); Indian National Bank Employees Federation (INBEF); Indian National Bank Officers Congress (INBOC); the National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW); and the National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO) are part of the UFBU and represent lakhs of bank staff, most of them in public sector banks besides others in private sector banks, regional rural banks and co-op banks.

The decision on the five day week has been pending with the Government for the past two years. The UFBU had given a call for a two-day strike on March 24 and 25 but deferred it after the government said the issue was under active consideration. Making a strong case, the UFBU said five-day week has already been implemented in RBI, LIC and GIC. A five-day work week is also followed for government offices, stock exchanges, money market and foreign exchange transactions, it said. “Hence, declaring the remaining Saturdays as holidays with increased working hours from Monday to Friday will not pose any major problem for the bank customers in the present circumstances when various alternative delivery channels to access banking services are available. Bank employees and officers are highly aggrieved that they alone are being discriminated against. We request the banking public to bear with us for any inconvenience caused,” UFBU said.