Banking operations to be hit from March 22-25 as unions announce nationwide strike

Banking services across the country are expected to be affected from March 22 to March 25 after the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) called for a two-day nationwide strike on March 24 and 25. The strike is aimed at demanding improved recruitment in all cadres, regularisation of temporary employees and the introduction of a five-day work week in the banking sector.

Banking services will be affected for four days starting from March 22, as March 23 is a bank holiday, followed by the two-day strike on March 24 and 25. This will impact services such as cash transactions, clearing, remittances and loan processing.

The UFBU is an umbrella organisation comprising nine bank unions that represent over eight lakh employees and officers from public sector banks, private banks, foreign banks, cooperative banks, and regional rural banks.

The unions are seeking adequate staffing in all cadres to ease the burden on existing employees and ensure better customer service. They have also demanded the regularisation of temporary staff and the immediate withdrawal of recent government directives on performance reviews and the performance-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, which they argue threaten job security and create division among employees.

Other key demands include increasing the gratuity ceiling to Rs 25 lakh, exempting it from income tax, and ensuring that staff welfare benefits provided on concessional terms are not taxed. The unions are also pushing for the government to retain a minimum of 51% equity in IDBI Bank and stop outsourcing permanent jobs in banks.

The UFBU highlighted that the financial sector, including the Reserve Bank of India and insurance companies, already follows a five-day work week. “Even private sector companies, including those in the IT sector, have adopted a five-day week. Indian banks had already agreed to this and recommended it to the government a year ago, but no action has been taken so far,” the UFBU said in a statement. The strike call follows the government’s failure to engage with the unions on these issues.