Bank unions call strikes from 11th September, indefinite strike from 26th October over 5-day banking, PLI scheme | Today’s news
The United Forum of Banking Unions (UFBU) has called for a series of nationwide strikes, including an indefinite strike from October 26, over the introduction of a five-day banking week and the government’s revised Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for senior bank officials.
The UFBU, which represents more than 90% of banking employees across public sector banks, private sector banks, foreign banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks, said it will hold an all-India bank strike on September 11, followed by strikes on September 28, 29 and 30. It also called for a continuous, indefinite strike from October 26, according to its press statement.
The union’s demands include introduction of five-day banking as agreed in the Settlement/Joint Memorandum dated 8 March 2024, withdrawal of the government’s “one-sided and discriminatory” PLI scheme, modification of the scheme through bilateral discussions with the unions and resolution of outstanding issues.
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Five day pressure
On five-day banking, UFBU said the banks agreed in the March 2024 settlement that the remaining Saturdays would be declared public holidays, with Monday-Friday working hours increased by 40 minutes per day.
The proposal was recommended to the Treasury for approval but remains pending more than two years later, the union said.
The union said there would be no reduction in working hours for customers as staff agreed to provide an extra 40 minutes of working time Monday to Friday.
PLI flash point
On the PLI issue, the UFBU said the existing scheme was introduced under the November 2020 agreement between the Indian Banks Association (IBA) and the unions and covered workers, employees and clerks from Scale I to Scale VII.
Under this regime, incentive payments ranged from one day’s salary to a maximum of 15 days’ salary, depending on the performance and profit of individual banks, and were paid uniformly to bank employees.
According to UFBU, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) under the Ministry of Finance had in November 2024 directed banks to adopt a revised incentive formula for scale IV to VII officers.
Unions said they opposed the directive, saying it violated a bilateral agreement and introduced discrimination based on individual performance instead of a uniform incentive.
Dispute over the formula
The union subsequently held bilateral talks with the IBA and submitted modifications to the government’s formula, but said it has yet to receive any response from the DFS or the government.
The UFBU said the government advised banks to implement the incentive formula in March 2026 and again advised banks on August 21 to go ahead with the implementation.
UFBU said it had filed a case in the Delhi High Court against the revised scheme and that the matter was still pending.
The union said the revised system provides incentives based on officers’ individual performance, with the incentive payable for up to 365 days’ wages, compared to a maximum of 15 days’ wages under the existing two-party system.
The statement said that Grade IV to Grade VII officers represent about 40,000 of the total banking workforce of about 8 million, or about 5%.
The UFBU said the maximum incentive for the remaining 95% of employees is one day’s wages, while the incentive for the 5% included in the revised scheme can be up to 365 days’ wages.
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The dispute is expanding
The union also said the dispute remains pending with the Chief Labor Commissioner and claimed that the revised system has been implemented despite the ongoing dispute.
The UFBU said the revised DFS scheme contradicts the mutually agreed single PLI scheme, shifts the basis of incentives from bank performance to individual performance and requires officials to be divided into different categories of executive and non-executive.
It also argued that the scheme would lead to disproportionate costs for the 5% of the workforce covered by it.
The Union further stated that the March 8, 2024 Settlement/Joint Memorandum identified certain outstanding matters as residual issues. They said the issues raised in the strike notices served in March 2025 and January 2026 also remain in conciliation proceedings and have not been resolved.
“So the agitation was forced on the union because of the actions of the government and management,” the UFBU said.
Queries sent to the finance ministry and the Indian Banks Association (IBA) on Tuesday evening seeking a response remained unanswered at the time of going to press.
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The statement was issued by CH Venkatachalam of AIBEA, Rupam Roy of AIBOC, L. Chandrasekhar of NCBE, Sanjay Khan of AIBOA, Debasish Basu Choudhary of BEFI, Prem Makker of INBOC and OP Sharma of INBEF.
