September 11 bank employees strike: Services likely to be hit as unions press for five-day week, PLI rollback

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) will hold a nationwide strike on September 11, 2026, over the delay in implementing a five-day banking week, differences over performance-linked incentive (PLI) schemes, and several other pending demands, including pension-related issues.

If the strike materialises, banking services, particularly in public sector banks, could be affected for four days in several parts of the country. September 11 falls on a Friday, followed by bank holidays on Second Saturday and Sunday. September 14 is also a holiday in some States on account of Ganesh Chaturthi.

More bank strikes planned

UFBU, an umbrella body representing nine bank employees’ and officers’ unions, has also announced a three-day nationwide strike from September 28 to September 30, coinciding with the half-yearly closing period. The forum has further warned of a “continuous indefinite strike” from October 26 if its demands remain unaddressed.

The decision was taken at a meeting held on Sunday (August 23, 2026), with the UFBU alleging that the government’s approach towards key demands had been “negative”.

Key demands of bank unions

Presenting a four-point charter of demands, including the implementation of a five-day banking week, which unions said had been promised in 2024, the UFBU said employees had been compelled to launch the agitation because assurances given by the government and bank managements had not been fulfilled.

According to union leaders, an agreement signed in March 2024 provided for Saturdays to be declared holidays, while employees agreed to an increase of 40 minutes in working hours from Monday to Friday.

“This agreement has been recommended to the Finance Ministry, Government of India, for approval. More than two years have passed, but the issue is still pending with the Finance Ministry,” UFBU leaders said.

The unions also called on the Union government to withdraw what they described as a “unilateral and discriminatory” performance-linked incentive scheme prescribed by the Department of Financial Services (DFS). They alleged that the cost of incentives paid to 5% of the workforce was substantially higher than the total incentive paid to the remaining 95%, resulting in significant disparities.

The unions also objected to the government’s PLI scheme for bank officers in Scale IV and above. They argued that the scheme departed from the understanding reached with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), under which performance-linked incentives were to be linked to the overall performance of individual banks and applied uniformly to employees and officers up to Scale VII.

Centre puts PLI scheme on hold

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance has said that it has decided to keep in abeyance the performance-linked incentive scheme proposed for 2025-26 for public sector bank employees, following a meeting between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and a delegation of bank employees led by the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the labour wing of the RSS.

“The delegation raised various issues relating to the banking sector, including a review of ex gratia payments, medical facilities for retired employees, revisiting the present structure of the PLI scheme applicable to employees of public sector banks, and other concerns relating to employees,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

“The concerns expressed by bank employees were taken cognisance of, and in response to the representation received on the PLI structure, it was decided to keep in abeyance the implementation of the PLI scheme dated November 19, 2024, for FY 2025-26 and take up the matter during the ongoing Bipartite Settlement/Joint Note discussions,” it added.