Business Desk – Bank Strike 2026: Bank employees and officers across the country are preparing to go on strike in several phases between September and October. United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an organization of bank unions, has released the program of the movement. According to this, there will be a one-day nationwide strike on September 11.
After this, bank employees will be on strike for three days from 28th to 30th September. If there is no solution to the demands, there are preparations for an indefinite strike from October 26. This may affect the functioning of bank branches and the services provided to customers.
Nationwide bank strike on 11 September
According to the movement program of UFBU, the first strike of bank employees and officers will take place on September 11. After this, a nationwide strike has been announced for three consecutive days on 28, 29 and 30 September.
If no solution is found on the demands of the bank unions during this period, then preparations are on to start an indefinite strike from October 26. In such a situation, bank customers may face problems for cash withdrawal, check clearance and other branch work.
Long standing demand for 5-Day Banking
The main demand of the bank unions is to implement the banking system five days a week. Unions say that this issue has been agreed upon in the 12th Bipartite Settlement and the 9th Joint Note.
This agreement was signed on 8 March 2024. According to the proposal, the daily working time from Monday to Friday will be increased by about 40 minutes and arrangements will be made to give Saturday holiday.
The unions allege that even after the agreement, the government's approval has not yet been received to implement this system. Bank employees say that five day banking will give them a better work-life balance and the banking sector will be able to move forward as per the modern working system.
Displeasure among employees over new PLI rules
The amended rules of Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) along with five day banking are also among the major objections of the bank unions. The unions allege that in the new rules, there has been a lot of difference in the PLI of different levels of officers and employees.
According to UFBU, officers in Scale IV and above can get higher PLI depending on their individual performance. Whereas for employees and officers from Scale I to III, the maximum PLI is limited to 15 days of basic pay and DA.
The unions say PLI should be based on the collective performance of the bank. He argues that there should not be such a big difference in PLI between employees and officers.
Demand regarding pension and OPS also
Bank unions have also raised many issues to pension. These include the demand for reforms in pension, uniform dearness allowance (DA) formula for all pensioners and giving option to NPS employees to switch to the old pension system (OPS).
The unions' movement will currently begin in several phases starting from September till October. Now the talks between the government and the concerned parties on the demands of the bank employees will decide whether the proposed indefinite bank strike from October 26 is postponed or not.
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