Banks are a part of our daily transactions. Even if we conduct transactions online, many tasks cannot be completed without visiting the bank. But if you haven't already, further delays are likely. Bank employees are preparing to go on strike. A nationwide strike has been called to address pending demands. This is likely to disrupt banking services for the next few days. What are the demands? How long will these difficulties persist?

The UFBU, a union of bank employees and officers, has announced a nationwide strike on September 11th. The main reasons for this strike include continued delays in the decision to open banks five days a week, deep disagreements over the PLI, and the lack of resolution of several pending pension-related demands. If this strike occurs, it will impact banking services in many parts of the country.

This will particularly impact public sector banks. September 11th is a Friday, followed by holidays on Saturday and Sunday. Additionally, banks will be closed in many states on September 14th due to the Ganesh Chaturthi holiday.

Warning of a major strike in the coming days,
UFBU further clarified that if the government and bank management do not pay heed to their demands, they will go on a three-day continuous strike from September 28. The special thing is that this strike will take place during the half-yearly financial statement. Therefore, there is a possibility of a major impact on the transactions of banks and the work of customers. If even after this their demands are not met, they have warned of starting an indefinite strike from October 26. Regarding this strike, the trade union clarified that this decision was taken due to the government adopting a 'negative stance' on their main demands in the meeting held on Sunday.

What does it mean to open banks five days a week? Trade unions clarified that the Indian Banks' Association approved a proposal to open banks five days a week on March 8, 2024, as part of the 12th biennial agreement. This includes extending working hours by 40 minutes from Monday to Friday. The IBA has sent this proposal to the government. However, employees are angry that the proposal has not been approved even after more than two years.

What's the big controversy surrounding PLI? An
even bigger controversy has arisen regarding PLI. The government has created a separate PLI scheme for bank officers in Scale IV and above, under which they can receive a substantial bonus on their basic salary for 365 days based on their personal performance. However, ordinary employees and officers up to Scale III will not be able to fully avail themselves of this scheme. Under this scheme, they will receive a maximum of 15 days' basic salary and dearness allowance. Trade unions allege that this completely contradicts the previous agreement with the IBA, which stipulated that bonuses would be awarded based on the overall performance of the entire bank. This would be the same for all employees and officers up to Scale VII. However, this failure has led to an atmosphere of resentment among employees.