UFBU calls nationwide bank strike on Jan 27 over 5-day week demand

NEW DELHI: The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) stated that it had been consistently demanding the introduction of a five-day working week in the banking sector. It recalled that under the 10th Bipartite Settlement / 7th Joint Note signed in 2015, the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and the Government had agreed to declare the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of every month as holidays, while the remaining Saturdays were made full working days instead of half-day working. UFBU pointed out that, at that time, it had been assured that the demand for declaring all remaining Saturdays as holidays would be considered in due course, but the matter was kept pending.

UFBU further stated that in 2022, the Government and the IBA had agreed to discuss the issue with the unions and had proposed increasing working hours so that the remaining Saturdays could be declared holidays. It added that, after discussions in 2023, it was agreed that daily working hours from Monday to Friday would be increased by 40 minutes and that all remaining Saturdays would be declared holidays. This proposal, UFBU said, had been duly recommended to the Government, but approval had been pending for the past two years.

The union forum explained that, due to the lack of response from the Government, it had given a call for a two-day strike on March 24 and 25, 2025. At that time, the Government had informed UFBU that the issue was under active consideration, following which the strike was deferred. However, UFBU expressed disappointment that even after this assurance, approval had not been granted. Consequently, after drawing the Government's attention through various protest programmes, UFBU announced a strike on January 27, 2026.

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