New Delhi. The three-day nationwide strike of bank employees proposed from September 28 has been postponed for the time being. In a meeting held on Sunday night between the Indian Banks Association (IBA) and the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), it was agreed to postpone the agitation and strike program after discussing various pending issues.
According to UFBU, a meeting took place between representatives of IBA and UFBU at around 9:30 pm on Sunday night. After detailed discussion, it was decided to continue the process of further dialogue and resolution on various issues including declaring the remaining Saturday as a bank holiday. After this, UFBU agreed to postpone its proposed agitation programs and strike.
It was decided in the meeting that a high-level committee of IBA and UFBU would be immediately constituted to consider the issue of declaring holiday on the remaining Saturdays in banks also. This committee will consider all possible options related to the five-day banking week. Along with this, efforts will be made to find a solution by discussing with various stakeholders, which is acceptable to the employees and other parties as well as the bank customers.
This issue has been included in the major demands of bank employee organizations. Employee organizations have been demanding for a long time to declare all Saturdays as holiday and implement banking system five days a week.
The issue of Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme related to officers of scale-4 and above also came up in the meeting of IBA and UFBU. As agreed, this scheme can be further discussed with the IBA, so that a proposal can be placed before the government for necessary changes in the scheme, keeping in mind the objections and suggestions of the unions and associations.
Apart from this, the remaining pending issues recorded in the minutes of March 8, 2024 will also be discussed between the two sides. Efforts will be made to find solutions to these issues soon.
UFBU had called for a three-day nationwide bank strike from September 28. The strike was proposed to demand a five-day banking week, pension related issues and other employee welfare related demands.
The strike was expected to affect operations in branches of public sector banks and some old generation private banks. In view of this, banks had also advised customers to complete important transactions first and use digital banking services as much as possible.