By Dr. Gyan Pathak
United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) called off its three-day all India bank strike from September 28 to 30, 2026 in the late night of September 27. In a circular issued in the late night, UBFU said that an understanding had been reached with Indian Banks Association (IBA) in the online virtual meeting held at 9:30 PM, which lasted about an hour.
The representative of the UFBU and the IBA agreed to immediately form a high-level committee to deliberate on UFBU’s key demand for a five-day working week. General Secretary of All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), C H Venkatachalam, said that the high-level committee will deliberate on the issue and see how it can be implemented.
The high-level committee will examine possible alternatives, hold discussions with all stakeholders and work towards a solution acceptable to all parties, with customers’ interests given importance, the UFBU said.
The joint statement of UFBU representing the seven bank unions stated, “After due deliberations, it was decided that a high-level committee of IBA and UFBU will be formed immediately to deliberate on the issue of declaring the remaining Saturdays as holidays. This committee will explore all possible alternatives, discuss with all stakeholders, and work out a solution acceptable to all stakeholders and, more importantly, the customers.”
The issue has been contentions, and both the government and the UFBU were at loggerheads. It was only on September 25, the Union Ministry of Finance had said that the government never agreed on five-days working week, though the demand is linked to an earlier agreement reached between the IBA and bank unions on March 8, 2024. The statement of the government came after the last round of talks held on September 22, which further made successful negotiation difficult.
UFBU, on the other hand, maintained that under the agreement reached on March 8, 2024, Saturdays, other than the second and fourth Saturdays would become holidays, and employees would work around 40 minutes extra every day from Monday to Friday to compensate their working hours in a week. The agreement was sent to the government but no action has been taken for two years.
Seven representatives of bank unions and six banking executives were present on the online meeting held on the night of September 27, after which AIBEA general secretary said, “We had three main demands. Discussions were held on all of them.”
On the other key demand regarding Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, UBFU circular issued in the late night stated, “As regards the PLI Scheme for Scale IV and above officers, the discussions can start with IBA to propose modifications to the Government in the scheme to address the observations of the Unions/ Associations. The residual issues as listed in the minutes dated 8.3.2024 will be discussed between the parties for expeditious resolution.
It is worth recalling here that the PLI issue was already effectively removed from the immediate dispute, after the talk between BMS and the government on September 7. The Government had put the scheme for PSB executives in abeyance, which it regarded as having addressed one of the two principal union demands.
After that meeting government had stated that the concerns expressed by bank employees were taken cognizance of, and in response to the representation received on the PLI structure, it was decided to keep in abeyance the implementation of the PLI Scheme dated 19.11.2024 for FY 2025–26 and take up the same during the ongoing Bipartite Settlement/ Joint Note discussions. The statement also read, “The Government is committed to resolve issues through dialogue, consultation and mutual understanding in the larger interest of bank employees, customers and the banking sector.”
However, UFBU was not satisfied with the government decision. It was agreed on the September 27 talks that discussion can start with IBA to propose modification in the scheme to the government along with all other residual issues.
UFBU’s 4 key demands included introduction of five-day banking, scraping of the new PLI system, revision of the scheme through bilateral discussion, and resolution of pending/residual issues including pension-related matters.
UFBU was also on strike on September 11, 2026. After the three-day strike during September 28-30 was called off, the proposed indefinite strike from October 26, will depend on the actual outcome of the understanding reached between IBA and UFBU on September 27, 2026.
UFBU is an umbrella organization which represents India’s more than 90 per cent of banking workforce across public-sector, private, foreign, regional rural and cooperative banks. It is comprised of seven banks’ employees’ and officers’ unions – All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA), Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), Indian National Bank Officers’ Congress (INBOC) and Indian National Bank Employees Federation (INBEF). (IPA Service)
