New Delhi: Bringing a massive wave of relief to millions of customers and businesses across the country, the proposed three-day nationwide bank strike scheduled to begin on Monday, September 28, has been officially deferred. The decision to call off the agitation was taken late Sunday night following a crucial and successful round of negotiations between the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU).
The UFBU, an umbrella body of various bank employees’ unions, had initially called for a massive strike from September 28 to September 30 to press for their long-pending demands.
According to the official circular released by the UFBU, representatives from the unions and the IBA held a detailed meeting at around 9:30 PM on Sunday. Following extensive deliberations on the pending issues, both parties managed to reach a mutual consensus, prompting the unions to withdraw their call for the three-day shutdown and associated protests.
The core issues driving the strike were long-standing grievances raised by bank employees. The primary demand was the official implementation of a five-day working week, a proposal that had previously received the IBA’s nod but has been pending final notification from the Finance Ministry. Additionally, the unions strongly opposed the newly introduced Performance-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, labelling the current evaluation parameters as discriminatory and impractical for the workforce.
The prospect of the strike had triggered widespread panic among the general public. As the strike was set to immediately follow the fourth Saturday and Sunday, branch banking services, cheque clearances, and cash deposits were staring at a severe five-day paralysis.
The situation was deemed so critical that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had taken the exceptional step of ordering government banks to remain open on Sunday, September 27, to mitigate the expected disruption. Furthermore, major public sector banks, including the State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB), had proactively waived ATM transaction charges for the strike period to ease the burden on the common man.
With the standoff now resolved and the strike postponed, all public sector banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) will resume normal operations from Monday morning, ensuring that customers face no hurdles in their daily financial transactions.