New Delhi, Sept. 28: Millions of bank customers were spared a planned three-day nationwide strike after the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) reached an agreement on Sunday to defer the industrial action scheduled for September 28-30.
The decision followed an eleventh-hour meeting between the two sides, after which the UFBU announced that it would suspend its planned protests and strike for the time being. The agreement includes immediate steps to examine the long-standing demand to declare all Saturdays bank holidays.
Under the arrangement, the IBA and UFBU will constitute a joint committee to examine options on the Saturday holiday issue, consult affected parties and work towards a solution that takes customer interests into account. The two sides will also begin discussions on changes to the Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for officers at Scale IV and above, with the aim of taking their concerns forward to the government.
Other outstanding matters recorded in the minutes of the March 8, 2024 meeting will also be taken up for discussion with the objective of resolving them at the earliest.
The strike had been proposed for September 28 to September 30, prompting public sector banks (PSBs) and regional rural banks (RRBs) to open selected branches on Sunday to provide customers an additional opportunity to complete essential banking transactions.
State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and several other PSBs operated on Sunday under the special arrangement. Customers requiring branch-based services could use the additional working day, subject to individual branches’ operational arrangements and staffing.
The Sunday opening decision followed a September 21 meeting involving officials from the Finance Ministry, PSBs, RRBs, the IBA and NABARD. The measure was intended to maintain access to regular banking services ahead of the proposed industrial action.
With the strike now deferred, the joint committee and discussions on the pending service and employee-related issues will determine the next steps under the agreement reached between the bank unions and the IBA.
