The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has announced a series of nationwide strikes in September and October over two major demands — implementation of a five-day banking week and withdrawal of the revised performance-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.
The umbrella organisation representing major bank employee and officer unions announced the agitation on Sunday.
Bank Strike Dates
The unions have planned the protests in three phases:
September 11: One-day nationwide strike
September 28-30: Three-day nationwide strike
October 26 onwards: Indefinite strike
Why Are Bank Unions Going on Strike?
The UFBU has renewed its demand for a five-day banking week, referring to the 12th Bipartite Settlement and 9th Joint Note signed in March 2024. Under the agreement, working hours would be increased by 40 minutes from Monday to Friday to enable banks to remain closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
The unions said the proposal is still awaiting government approval.The unions are also opposing the revised PLI framework introduced by the Finance Ministry. They have termed the scheme discriminatory, claiming that officers in Scale IV and above can receive incentives of up to 365 days of basic pay based on individual performance, while workmen employees and officers up to Scale III are eligible for a maximum of 15 days of Basic Pay plus DA.
According to the UFBU, the PLI should instead be linked to the overall performance of the bank and should provide a uniform number of incentive days for employees and officers up to Scale VII.
Other Demands
Apart from the two main demands, the bank unions have called for bilateral discussions to revise the PLI scheme and resolve several pending issues.
These include pension updation, improved pension benefits, a uniform DA formula for pensioners and an option for employees covered under the National Pension System (NPS) to shift to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).The PLI dispute is currently under conciliation before the Chief Labour Commissioner and is also being heard by the Delhi High Court.
The UFBU has also opposed what it describes as top-down and market-driven restructuring of public sector banks. It has demanded greater stakeholder representation on bank boards, stronger public-purpose banking, inflation-protected returns on small deposits and increased branch-based lending to small borrowers.