3-day bank strike scheduled to begin today postponed:Employees demand 5-day working week; high-level committee to be formed on holidays

The three-day bank strike over five-day working, scheduled to begin today, has been postponed. This means the nationwide strike planned for 28, 29 and 30 September will not take place for now. The decision was taken at a meeting between the Indian Banks’ Association and the United Forum of Bank Unions late on Sunday night. It was agreed at the meeting that a committee would be formed to consider the demand for holidays. What impact does a bank strike have, and why was it postponed? Understand through six questions and answers… Question: Why was the bank strike going to take place? Answer: Bank unions were demanding a five-day working week, with banks open from Monday to Friday and closed on Saturday and Sunday. There was also a dispute over the PLI scheme and some other pending issues. Question: Who held the meeting, and who called off the strike? Answer: A meeting was held between the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) at around 9:30 p.m. on 27 September. Question: Who held the meeting, and what are the IBA and UFBU? Answer: The IBA is the representative organisation of banks. It negotiates with employees’ unions on issues such as salaries, leave and service conditions on behalf of bank management. The UFBU is a joint platform of several unions representing bank employees and officers. It presents employees’ demands to bank management. Question: Was the government also involved in the meeting? Answer: According to the UFBU circular you provided, the government was not directly involved in the meeting. However, the IBA will put forward a proposal to the government for changes to the PLI. Question: What impact would the strike have on bank customers? Answer: As the proposed strike has been deferred for now, bank branches will not face the disruption that the strike would have caused to their normal operations. A three-day strike could have affected cash deposits and withdrawals, cheque-related work, drafts and other branch services. Question: Has five-day working been implemented? Answer: No. So far, there has only been an agreement to form a committee to find a solution to the issue. No final decision has yet been taken on implementing Saturdays as holidays. 90% of employees were set to join the strike Seven major bank unions from across the country were set to participate in the strike, representing more than 90% of bank employees. These included AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE, AIBOA, BEFI, INBEF and INBOC. Government had already denied 5-day working in banks Just before the bank employees’ strike, a media report claimed that the government had never promised a 5-day working week for banks and that the issue had not been discussed during the salary revision talks either. A Finance Ministry source said the demand had been raised unilaterally by the employees’ unions and that no agreement had been reached on it between the two sides. Government and unions also clash over PLI scheme Apart from the five-day workweek, there is also a dispute over the rules for bonuses (PLI). The government has implemented a new bonus rule for senior officers, such as Scale 4 and above. Under this rule, officers who perform well may receive an incentive or bonus equivalent to 365 days of their basic salary. Bank unions are opposing this as well. Although the decision to call off the bank strike was taken late at night, banks had to open for the general public on Sunday on the Finance Ministry’s instructions. Before this, banks had opened on Sunday, 14 November 2016, after demonetisation. People were queueing at banks to exchange, deposit and withdraw cash using the old ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes. To manage the crowds, the government had decided to keep banks open on Sundays as well.