Bank strike on Sept 11; banking services at 5,000+ branches to be hit across Gujarat

Ahmedabad: Public sector banks across Gujarat are set to remain closed for three days from Friday to Sunday as bank employees begin a phased agitation demanding a five-day working week.

The Maha Gujarat Bank Employees’ Association (MGBEA) has called a strike on Friday, September 11, as part of a three-stage protest. If the demand remains unresolved, employees will strike again from September 28 to 30, followed by an indefinite strike from October 26.

MGBEA general secretary Janak Rawal said the agitation could impact banking transactions worth around Rs 15,000 crore across Gujarat. Around 5,400 bank branches are expected to remain shut during the strikes, with nearly 75,000 bank employees and officers participating.

The September 28-30 strike, combined with the fourth Saturday and Sunday on September 26 and 27, would result in banks remaining closed for five consecutive days.

For customers, branch-based services such as cash deposits and withdrawals, cheque-related work, account services and other over-the-counter transactions are likely to be affected on strike days. Digital banking services, however, are expected to remain available for routine transactions.

The unions are demanding that banks remain closed on all Saturdays, instead of the existing arrangement under which only the second and fourth Saturdays are holidays. Rawal said the demand has been discussed with the labour commissioner several times but remains unresolved.

The five-day workweek proposal was included in a settlement signed between the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and bank unions in March 2024. Under the agreement, employees would work an additional 40 minutes from Monday to Friday in exchange for holidays on all Saturdays. The proposal was subsequently sent to the Union Finance Ministry for approval, which the association said has been pending for more than two years.

Seven banking unions, AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE, BEFI, INBOC, INBEF and AIBOA, are participating in the agitation. The unions have maintained that a five-day week would not reduce customer-facing banking hours, as employees have agreed to extend their working hours from Monday to Friday.

DeshGujarat