Mumbai, India – Bank unions on Sunday deferred the proposed three-day nationwide strike after a meeting with bank managements. “All banks will function normally now. There will be no strike. We had three main demands. Discussion was held on all of them in a meeting held at 9.30 pm today. One of them was for a five-day working week. Decision has been taken to immediately form a high-level committee of IBA and UFBU to deliberate on the issue and to see how it can be implemented,” C.H. Venkatachalam, general secretary of the All India Bank Employees Association, told The Hindu. Seven representatives of the bank unions and six banking executives were present for the online meeting that lasted about an hour.
The United Forum of Bank Unions issued a circular late on Sunday night announcing that an understanding had been reached with the Indian Banks’ Association. “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,” the UBFU circular said.
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Devidas Tuljapurkar, chairperson of All India Bank of Maharashtra Employees’ Federation, expressed satisfaction over the meeting’s outcome. “The demand for a five-day week has been long pending. By accepting to form a committee, a positive step has been taken to find out how it can be implemented in consultation with all stakeholders, particularly the customers, so that they are not inconvenienced,” he told The Hindu. The deferment of the strike comes as a relief to banking customers across the country, with normal operations expected to continue uninterrupted.
