Bank Strike: Bank employees’ unions are threatening a nationwide strike on January 27th. They are demanding a five-day week. Due to upcoming holidays, this strike could close public sector banks for four consecutive days. The unions say they are willing to accept longer working hours as compensation. Many other institutions already operate on a five-day week system.
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Bank Strike: If you’re planning to do any banking work in the last week of January, consider completing it in the second or third week. Otherwise, you may have to wait until next month. Banks have announced a strike. While the strike will be for one day, work will be disrupted for three days. This is because the strike precedes three consecutive bank holidays. Consequently, work could be disrupted for four consecutive days, potentially causing difficulties for ordinary people in completing their banking work. Let us explain the exact dates for which banks have announced the strike and their demands.
Banks will remain closed for four consecutive days
Bank employee unions, under the aegis of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), have threatened a nationwide strike on January 27th, demanding the implementation of a five-day working week. If the strike occurs, it will significantly impact public sector bank operations for four consecutive days. The fourth Saturday holiday is on the 24th, followed by Sunday, the 25th, and Republic Day on Monday, January 26th. Therefore, banks will be closed for three consecutive days before the strike. If the strike occurs on the 27th, banking operations will be disrupted for a fourth consecutive day.
What are the banks’ demands?
Currently, bank employees get holidays on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, in addition to Sundays. The Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the UFBU agreed to declare the remaining two Saturdays as holidays during the wage revision agreement in March 2024. The UFBU said in a statement that it is unfortunate that the government is ignoring their genuine demand. The agreed-upon 40 minutes of extra work per day from Monday to Friday will not result in any reduction in working hours.
Why is this demand being made?
The statement states that the RBI, LIC, GIC, etc., already operate five days a week, and the foreign exchange market, currency markets, and stock exchanges are closed on Saturdays. Furthermore, central and state government offices are also closed on Saturdays. Therefore, the statement states that there is no reason for banks not to implement a five-day work week.
UFBU is an organization of 9 banks.
The statement further said that it has been decided to call an all-India strike in all banks on January 27, 2026. UFBU is an umbrella organization of nine major bank unions in India, representing employees and officers of public sector banks and some older private banks. The statement further said that the union’s social media campaign #5DayBankingNow received 18,80,027 impressions and approximately 2,85,200 posts on X.
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