3-day nationwide bank strike from Sept 28-30 deferred

New Delhi: The proposed three-day nationwide bank strike from September 28 to 30 has been deferred after the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) reached an understanding during a meeting on Sunday night.

The UFBU announced the decision in a circular issued on September 27 following a meeting with the IBA that began at 9.30 pm.

What did the IBA and UFBU agree on?

Under the agreement, a high-level committee comprising representatives of the IBA and UFBU will be constituted to examine the unions’ demand for declaring the remaining Saturdays as holidays.

The committee will explore possible alternatives, consult stakeholders and work towards a solution acceptable to all parties, including customers. The demand for a five-day banking week has been one of the key issues raised by bank unions. The matter remains under consideration, while the finance ministry has previously said it made no commitment to implement the proposal.

On the Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Scale IV and above officers, the two sides agreed to initiate discussions. The IBA will propose modifications to the government to address concerns raised by unions and officers’ associations.

The two sides will also take up the pending issues mentioned in the minutes of the March 8, 2024 meeting, with the aim of resolving them at the earliest.

Following the understanding, the UFBU said it had decided to defer its planned agitation and strike programmes.

Why was the bank strike planned?

The UFBU had announced the September 28-30 nationwide strike over several demands, with a five-day banking week among its key demands.

The unions have also sought improvements in pension benefits, a uniform dearness allowance formula for all pensioners and an option for employees covered under the National Pension System (NPS) to switch to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).

The unions had earlier observed a nationwide strike on September 11. A conciliation meeting held earlier in the week ended without a settlement, following which the UFBU had said it would proceed with the September 28-30 strike in the absence of concrete progress on five-day banking.

The proposed strike followed weekend holidays on September 26 and 27. To avoid prolonged disruption to banking services, the government directed public sector banks and regional rural banks to remain operational on Sunday.

The Reserve Bank of India also permitted bank branches, offices, ATM-linked branches and currency chests to operate on Sunday. Bank of India separately approved similar arrangements.

The timing of the proposed strike was significant as September 30 marks the half-yearly closing of banks, involving activities such as reconciliation, provisioning, treasury operations and market-related work.

With the UFBU deferring the strike and other planned agitation programmes, the disruption scheduled for September 28-30 will not take place, according to the union forum’s circular. DeshGujarat