The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has announced a series of phased nationwide agitations, with approximately eight lakh employees poised to strike. These actions are in response to what the unions describe as long-pending issues stemming from earlier agreements, including the implementation of a five-day working week, disputes over the performance-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, and unresolved pension and service-related demands.
The UFBU's plan includes an all-India strike on September 11, followed by a three-day strike from September 28 to 30. If these issues remain unaddressed, an indefinite strike is scheduled to commence from October 26, 2026. This escalation comes over two years after the banking industry's last major wage settlement.
Push for Five-Day Banking Week
A central demand is the introduction of a five-day working week, a proposal that has received backing from the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) but still awaits government approval. An understanding between the IBA and unions was reached in December 2023, recommending that all Saturdays be declared holidays for the banking sector. The subsequent settlement, signed in March 2024, acknowledged the IBA's recommendation, stating that revised working hours would take effect post-government clearance.
Under the proposed arrangement, banks would close on all Saturdays, with daily working hours from Monday to Friday extending by approximately 40 minutes to maintain overall employee work hours. Currently, only the second and fourth Saturdays are bank holidays.
Dispute Over Performance-Linked Incentives
Another significant point of contention revolves around the performance-linked incentive scheme. The original framework, negotiated in 2020, linked incentives uniformly to the bank's overall performance and applied to employees and officers up to Scale VII.
However, in November 2024, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) introduced a revised PLI framework specifically for whole-time directors and senior executives from Scale IV to VIII. This new scheme assesses performance based on parameters like efficiency, business, asset quality, and financial inclusion, combining overall bank performance with individual achievements. The UFBU opposes this revision, arguing it was implemented without bilateral negotiations and replaces a uniform, bank-linked incentive with individual performance-based payouts for senior officers. The matter is currently under conciliation before the Chief Labour Commissioner and has also been challenged in the Delhi High Court.
Unresolved Pension and Service Demands
The third key area of agitation concerns residual issues that remained unresolved following the 12th Bipartite Settlement and the 9th Joint Note in 2024. During those negotiations, the IBA and unions agreed to further discuss several demands within six months to reach an amicable solution. These outstanding issues include pension updates for past retirees, improvements to the existing pension scheme, changes to medical insurance, and a uniform dearness allowance (DA) formula for pensioners.
Unions are particularly pushing for provisions in pension regulations that allow for periodic pension updation alongside future wage settlements. Furthermore, there is a demand for employees covered by the National Pension System (NPS) to be given the option to switch to the Old Pension Scheme.
Demands Stem from Existing Agreements
The UFBU emphasizes that these demands are not new but rather arise from existing agreements or established bilateral arrangements. They assert that the five-day working week was recorded in the 2024 settlement pending government approval, and the earlier PLI framework was part of negotiated service conditions. Similarly, pension and welfare demands were explicitly identified for further bilateral discussion after the March 2024 settlement. The current confrontation marks an escalation to ensure the implementation and resolution of these critical issues.