Bank strike deferred after association agrees to panel on five-day banking week

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) late on Sunday said that it has deferred its proposed three-day nationwide bank strike beginning Monday, after the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) agreed to form a high-level committee with the forum to consider its demand for a five-day banking week.

The development came after UFBU’s late-night meeting with the IBA. “After detailed discussions, understandings have been reached, and hence our agitations and strike actions are deferred. Details follow,” Ufbu said in the announcement.

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“On five-day banking, the IBA has agreed to form a high-level committee comprising representatives of the IBA and the United Forum,” said UFBU key negotiator C.H. Venkatachalam.

“The committee will work towards finding a solution to our demand for implementation of five-day banking and will discuss the matter with all the stakeholders,” said Venkatachalam, who is also general secretary of All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA).

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“Second, on performance-linked incentive (PLI), there will be discussions on the issue of the discriminatory PLI for officers and modification of the scheme will be discussed with us. Third, the other pending issues will also be discussed with us,” he added.

The precise terms and modalities of the understanding reached between the two sides were yet to be formally disclosed. The development comes just hours before the proposed three-day strike was scheduled to begin.

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The UFBU, an umbrella body of seven major bank employees’ and officers’ unions, had served a strike notice on 26 August and announced a phased programme of industrial action.

Queries emailed to the finance ministry remained unanswered.