Himalaya Harbinger, Rudrapur Burea
The 3-day bank strike has been deferred, the United Forum of Bank Unions *UFBU) has confirmed in a statement. The bank strike was supposed to take place from 28 to 30 September.
“On 27 September at 9:30 PM, there was a meeting between IBA and UFBU. 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,” ANI quoted UFBU as stating.
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,” UFBU wrote in its statement.
“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,” it further wrote.
The residual issues as listed in the minutes dated 8.3.2024 will be discussed between the parties for expeditious resolution,” it added.
“In view of the above, it was agreed by the UFBU that the proposed agitational programmes and strike actions will be deferred,” it concluded.
Some social media users sympathised with the bank employees who were asked to work on Sundays. Now that the bank strikes have been deferred, some users argue that they worked on a holiday for nothing.
What are the demands?
Bank unions under UFBU have several key demands. Their main demand is a five-day banking week. This means declaring all Saturdays and Sundays as holidays. Unions say this was already discussed but delayed.
They also want better pension benefits overall. NPS employees should get the option to switch back. The Old Pension Scheme should be made available to them again.
Pending wage revisions need to be resolved, too. Performance-linked incentive issues also require proper addressing soon.
Salary disbursement
The central government earlier implemented a system to prevent salary delays caused by the bank strikes. September salaries were authorised early on 25 September. Salaries, wages and pensions were included in this. Defence, Posts and Telecommunications employees were covered.
These payments count as advances against final amounts. Any adjustments will happen during October instead. Industrial employees also received advance wage payments similarly.
Railway employees got separate instructions through the Railway Board. StaffNews published this communication for the railway units. It referenced a 23 September memorandum permitting early payment. The Railway Ministry’s Finance Directorate agreed to this arrangement.
