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New Delhi: Bank employees across the country have been continuously demanding a 5-day work week but the government has not yet given its consent. Now to put pressure on the government the bank association has announced a strike on January 27. The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) a joint forum of all bank employee unions has announced an All India Bank Strike on Tuesday January 27 2026. This strike is bound to affect the functioning of both public and private sector banks. The Strike Was Announced On January 4 The strike was announced through a circular issued by the All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) on January 4. The circular stated that the government has not taken any concrete action on the long-pending demands even though an agreement on this issue was reached during the salary revision agreement in March 2024. This agreement was between the Indian Banks Association (IBA) and the bank unions. Banks Will Be Closed For Three Days Banks will be closed on January 25 as it is a Sunday. January 26 is a national holiday on account of Republic Day; hence banks will be closed. Banks will not function on January 27 as a strike has been called by the bank employees. So for three straight days banks will not function across India. What Are The Bank Employees Demands? Bank unions want banks to operate from Monday to Friday with all Saturdays declared as holidays. Currently banks are closed only on the second and fourth Saturdays. The unions say that the remaining two Saturdays should also be holidays. However this has not yet been implemented. The UFBU argues that bank employees have already shown flexibility. They had agreed that if a five-day work week is implemented they would work an extra 40 minutes daily from Monday to Friday so that there is no reduction in the total working days. The unions also argue that since the RBI LIC GIC stock exchanges money markets and central and state government offices already operate on a five-day work week why are banks being treated differently? Bank Unions Have Been Holding Protests And Rallies For the past few months bank unions have been holding protests and rallies across the country. A major campaign was recently launched on the social media platform X. According to AIBOC this campaign received over 1.88 million impressions and generated more than 300000 posts. The unions hailed it as a successful show of public support but despite this the government has not taken any concrete action. Impact On Customers If the strike takes place on January 27 banking operations at bank branches may be disrupted on that day. Check clearing cash deposits and withdrawals drafts and counter services will be affected. However net banking mobile banking UPI and ATM services may remain operational albeit with possible limitations. Customers are advised to complete their essential banking transactions before January 27 to avoid any inconvenience.